The Division of Youth Services-Child Protective Services recorded nearly an 18% decrease in wardship cases in the Northern Marianas from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025.
Wardship cases happen when DYS-CPS determines that a child cannot safely remain in his or her family’s home and secures court intervention.
In FY 2025, DYS-CPS recorded 74 children under wardship, consisting of 48 carryover cases and 26 new wardship cases.
That represents a 17.8% decrease from FY 2024, when 90 children were under wardship, including 48 carryover cases and 42 new wardship cases.
Of the 74 children under wardship in FY 2025, DYS-CPS reports that 45 are in foster or kinship care. Further breakdown shows that three children were reunified with their families, three had their wardship terminated, 12 cases remain ongoing, four children are under guardianship care, seven are in foster care, one child was adopted, and eight children are placed with families not receiving foster or kinship stipends.
For FY 2023 to FY 2024 outcomes, DYS-CPS reported that 17 children were in foster or kinship care. Of that number, 10 were adopted, four were reunified with their families, and three remained in foster care.
Under 6 CMC § 5324 of the CNMI’s Juvenile Justice law, the Superior Court must review a temporary wardship of an abused child within 30 days to determine whether it should continue.
To extend wardship, the Office of the Attorney General must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the child either lacks proper parental care with no capable or willing guardian, or is living in an unfit home due to neglect, cruelty, depravity, or physical abuse.
If continued, the court may declare the child a ward for up to one year. Any extension beyond that requires a new hearing and finding.
When a child is declared a ward, the court may limit parental control or place the child under the care of DYS, which may then arrange placement with a qualified individual, organization, or public agency. However, the court may not remove a child from a parent or guardian unless it finds that removal is in the child’s best interests.
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