Written reports and other material and information relating to the child's mental, physical, and social history may be received and considered by the court at the adjudicatory hearing together with other evidence relating to the allegations of the petition or circumstances then affecting the child. If requested by the child or the child's parents, guardian, custodian, or other interested party appearing as respondent in the action, the court shall require the party who prepared the reports or material to appear as a witness and be subject to both direct and cross-examination. In the absence of a request regarding the appearance of the party preparing the reports or material, the court may order the party who prepared the report or material to appear and testify if the court finds that interests of the child or the child's parent, guardian, or custodian or any other respondent to the proceedings so require.
S.D. Codified Laws § 26-7A-83
Evidence considered at adjudicatory hearing--Appearance of party preparing reports and materials used as evidence
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case In Re the Guardianship of S.M.N. (2010)
Most recently applied in In Re the Guardianship of S.M.N. (April 2010)
Source: SL 1991, ch 217, § 71C.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.