Guam § 13321 - Long-term Foster Custody.

§ 13321. Long-term Foster Custody.

(a) Long-term foster custody divests from each legal custodian and family member who has been

summoned pursuant to § 13306 and vests in a long-term custodian each of the parental and custodial duties

and rights of a legal custodian and family member including but not limited to the following:

(1) To determine where and with whom the child shall live; provided that the child shall not be

placed outside Guam without prior approval of the court;

(2) To assure that the child is provided in a timely manner with adequate food, clothing, shelter,

psychological care, physical care, medical care, supervision and other necessities;

(3) To monitor the provision of appropriate education to the child;

(4) To provide all consents that are required for the child’s physical or psychological health or

welfare, including but not limited to medical, dental, psychiatric, psychological, educational,

employment, recreational or social needs and to provide all consents for any other medical care or

treatment, including but not limited to surgery if such care or treatment is deemed by two physicians

licensed or authorized to practice in Guam to be necessary for the child’s physical or psychological

health or welfare; and

(5) To provide the court with information concerning the child that the court may require at any

time.

(b) Unless otherwise ordered by the court, a child’s family member shall retain the following rights

and responsibilities after a transfer of long-term foster custody to the extent that such family member

possessed such responsibility prior to the transfer of long-term foster custody: the right to consent to

adoption, marriage, the continuing responsibility for support of the child, including but not limited to

repayment for the cost of any and all care, treatment or any other service supplied or provided by the long-

term custodian, any subsequent long-term custodian, other authorized agency or the court for the child’s

benefit.

(c) A family member may be permitted visitation with the child at the discretion of the court.

(d) An order of long-term foster custody entered under this Chapter shall not operate to terminate the

mutual rights of inheritance of the child and the child’s family members or any other benefit to which the

child may be entitled, unless and until the child has been legally adopted.

(e) The court, in its discretion, may vest long-term foster custody of a child in an authorized legal

agency or in subsequent authorized agencies as is deemed to be in the best interests of the child. An

authorized agency shall not be liable to third persons for the acts of the child solely by reason of the agency’s

status as long-term custodian of the child.

COL 2025-12-23

(f) If Child Protective Services receives a report that the child has been harmed or is subject to

threatened harm by the acts or omissions of the long-term custodian or custodians of the child, Child

Protective Services may automatically assume physical custody of the child; provided that, in any event,

Child Protective Services shall immediately notify the court and the court shall set the case for a progress

hearing within ten working days, from the date that Child Protective Services assumed physical custody of

the child, unless the court deems a later date to be in the best interests of the child.