Hearing: Time; procedure; evidence; postponement; closed court; confidentiality of hearings, files and records pertaining to terminating parental rights

1. At the time stated in the notice, or at the earliest time thereafter to which the hearing may be postponed, the court shall proceed to hear the petition. 2. The proceedings are civil in nature and are governed by the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. The court shall in all cases require the petitioner to establish the facts by clear and convincing evidence and shall give full and careful consideration to all of the evidence presented, with regard to the rights and claims of the parent of the child and to any and all ties of blood or affection, but with a dominant purpose of serving the best interests of the child. 3. Information contained in a report filed pursuant to NRS 432.097 to 432.130, inclusive, or chapter 432B of NRS may not be excluded from the proceeding by the invoking of any privilege. 4. In the event of postponement, all persons served, who are not present or represented in court at the time of the postponement, must be notified thereof in the manner provided by the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure. 5. Any hearing held pursuant to this section must be held in closed court without admittance of any person other than those necessary to the action or proceeding, unless the court determines that holding such a hearing in open court will not be detrimental to the child. 6. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 7, any hearing held pursuant to NRS 128.005 to 128.150, inclusive, is confidential and must be held in closed court without the admittance of any person other than the petitioner, attorneys, any witnesses, the director of an agency which provides child welfare services or an authorized representative of such person and any other person entitled to notice, except by order of the court. 7. The files and records of the court in a proceeding to terminate parental rights pursuant to NRS 128.005 to 128.150, inclusive, are not open to inspection by any person except: (a) The person petitioning for the termination of parental rights and a person who intends to file a response to such a petition; or (b) Upon an order of the court expressly so permitting pursuant to a petition setting forth the reasons therefor.