Section 211.037, RSMo, states children shall be promptly returned to the care and custody of a non-offending parent entitled to physical custody of the child if:

• The parents have continuously maintained joint domicile for a period of at least six months prior to the alleged incident or the parents are maintaining separate households
• Evidence indicates only one of the parents is the subject of an investigation of abuse or neglect
• The non-offending parent does not have a history of criminal behavior, drug or alcohol abuse, child abuse, or child neglect, domestic violence, stalking, or full orders of protection entered against them within the past five years. The worker shall request that a local or state law enforcement agency or juvenile officer immediately conduct a name-based criminal history record check to include full orders of protection and outstanding warrants by using the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to initially assess whether the non-offending parent holds a criminal history
• The parents are maintaining joint domicile and the offending parent is removed from the home voluntarily or involuntarily, or the parents live separately and the child is removed from the home of the custodial parent
• A non-offending parent requests custody of the child and agrees to cooperate with any orders of the court limiting contact or establishing visitation with the offending parent and the non-offending parent complies with such orders.

Related Practice Alerts and Memos:

1-3-20 – PA20-RD-01 – Relative Resource Placement Consideration

1-15-19 – https://dssmanuals.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/cd19-01.pdf

6-11-20 – CD20-23 – Update on Placement Hierarchy and Diligent Searches