Legal Lingo (Dependency)

At this hearing, the court is considering a permanent plan for the child. The court is not considering returning the child to their parent. There are limited issues in this hearing. They include whether the child is adoptable and whether there are any applicable legal exceptions to adoption. This hearing results in either the termination of parental rights or the designation of a less permanent plan for the child, such as legal guardianship or long-term foster care.

A petition requesting to modify, change, or set aside a prior court order or to terminate dependency jurisdiction. The petition must establish two things: 1) changed circumstance or new evidence to support the requested change, and 2) that it would be in the child’s best interest for the court to make the requested change.

Records in dependency proceedings are confidential. An 827 petition is a request for the juvenile court to give the person filing the petition access to those confidential materials.

An alleged parent is a person who has been named as or claims to be a child’s parent, but the relationship has not been legally established.

A biological parent is a person whose biological relationship to the minor has been established but they may or may not have been designated as the child’s presumed parent. A biological parent is not entitled to reunification services, but the juvenile court may order services to be provided.

When a child is declared a dependent of the juvenile court and removed from their parents’ care, the parents are generally entitled to participate in family reunification services. The bypass provision outlines specific circumstances under which the court is not required to provide a parent with family reunification services.

When a child is in foster care, the county is required to hold a CFT meeting. This meeting may include: the child, the parents, a caregiver, a mental health provider, support persons, and tribal representatives (if applicable). The purpose of a CFT is to create a collaborative approach to the development and implementation of the family’s case plans and treatment services.

A de facto parent has three rights: 1) the right to be present at the hearings, 2) the right to be represented by retained counsel or, at the court’s discretion, by appointed counsel, 3) the right to present evidence. The Judicial Counsel Form, JV-295, must be used to request de facto parent status. Once filed, the court may recognize the child’s present or prior custodian as a de facto parent. A de facto parent may participate as a party in the dispositional hearing or any subsequent hearing.

This is the first court hearing. The purpose of this hearing is to determine whether the child may be described by Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 and if so, whether there is immediate danger to the child which requires they be detained from their parent(s) until the jurisdiction hearing. The court must consider if reasonable efforts were made to prevent the child’s removal and must also consider if there are reasonable services available which would allow the child to remain safely with a parent/parents.

A disposition hearing occurs after the juvenile court has sustained one or more of the allegations in the petition. There are many possible disposition orders. They will include whether the child will be declared a dependent of the juvenile court, where the child will be placed, visitation orders, and what services will be ordered for the family. The disposition orders are a final order. They are the first orders which can be appealed.

The term Family Maintenance (or FM) is used to describe the child welfare services provided to a custodial parent when a child has been declared a dependent of the juvenile court, but the child  remains in the custody of at parent. Future hearings will be set at six-month intervals to assess the current needs of the family and whether continued supervision is needed.

The term Family Reunification (or FR) is used to describe the situation in which a child has been declared a dependent of the juvenile court, removed from their parent(s), and the court orders the family participate in child welfare services in an effort to address the concerns found true in the sustained petition. The court will set future hearing dates to receive updates on the family and assess the need for continued supervision.

The ICWA is a collection of federal and state provisions governing the interests of Native American children involved in juvenile dependency proceedings.

The ICPC outlines the process for allowing a child to be placed in another state for foster care or as a preliminary step to a possible adoption.

A Marsden hearing is what occurs when a party expresses to the court a desire to have new counsel appointed. The party requesting new counsel must support their request with reasons sufficient to relieve existing counsel.

A presumed parent is a person who was legally married to the child’s mother at the time of the child’s birth, a person who signed a declaration of paternity at the hospital, or a person who has received the child into their home and holds the child out as their natural child. Although most case law focuses on presumed fatherhood, court have applied these same legal principles to women seeking presumed mother status. (In re Karen C. (2002) 101 Cal.App.4th 932.)

After the court removes a child from their parents at the disposition hearing, the court must then consider where to place the child. All relatives who may want placement should make themselves known to the court. The court is required to consider a relative first when deciding where to place a child. There is no requirement that the child be placed with a relative, only that relatives are given preferential consideration.

RFA stands for Resource Family Approval Program. This is an approval process related to foster care licensing, relative placement approval, and approval for adoption/guardianship.

Review hearings are generally held at  six-month intervals. At each review hearing, the court must address whether the placement of the child is necessary and appropriate, whether reasonable services were provided to aid the family in overcoming the issues which led to juvenile court intervention, and whether there is a continued need for supervision by the court and social services agency.

A Sade C. brief is a brief which sets forth the facts and procedure of  a case but advises the court that the appellate attorney has not found a legal issue to raise on the appellant’s behalf.

A legal advisement given to a parent at the court hearing where the section 366.26/hearing to terminate parental rights is set. This often happens after the family reunification services (FR) were terminated.