HB 1790 amends current statute, the juvenile court act specifically, to exempt the department of social and health services from following the outlined process of petitioning the court to deal with a dependent child. The language is amended to add “Except where the department is the petitioner” to the following sentence:
“Except where the department is the petitioner, in counties having paid probation officers, these officers shall, to the extent possible, first determine if a petition is reasonably justifiable. Each petition shall be verified and contain a statement of facts constituting a dependency, and the names and residence, if known to the petitioner, of the parents, guardian, or custodian of the alleged dependent child.”