How Children Come into the System?
Children at risk come to the court through intervention by the Department of Health and Social Services, also referred to as CPS or Child Protective Services. When CPS receives a suspected child abuse referral, it investigates. Often, the CPS determines there is no probable harm, or that the risk can be reduced by providing help to the family. If there are no services available to the parents to remedy the potential risk the child may endure while in their care - then the child is removed from his or her parents.

How the Court Gets Involved?
When a child is removed from the physical custody of his or her parents by CPS, CPS has 2 court-days to decide whether to release the child. If CPS determines not to release the child, it must file a petition with the court within that two court-day period, asking that the court order the child removed from the parents pending further court hearings. An initial hearing, sometimes called a detention hearing, is held not later than the day after the day the petition is filed with the court. By Standing Order of the Court, SCA is appointed to act as the child's attorney at the time the petition is filed, but first becomes actively involved at the initial hearing. Parents are also provided with appointed attorneys beginning at the detention hearing if they qualify for appointed counsel. Attorneys will appear on behalf of their clients at every hearing in the case.

The Initial Hearing
Children aged 4 years and older are brought to court for the detention hearing. They will be interviewed by SCA attorney assigned to the case before the detention hearing. The attorney will decide whether the child should attend court. The issue at detention is whether the child can be safely returned to the parents care pending further proceedings in the case.

The Disposition Hearing
Following the detention hearing, and whether the child removed from the parents a jurisdiction and disposition hearing will be scheduled for about 3 weeks later. At that hearing, the court will determine whether the allegations in the petition are true and if true, what services should be provided in order to reunify the parents and child safely.

The Jurisdiction Hearing
If jurisdiction is found (that is, if the petition is found true), the parents in most cases will be offered reunification services reasonably tailored to their specific needs, in order to reduce the risk so that the child may be returned. Such services may include, but are not limited to, substance abuse treatment, counseling, and parenting instruction. If children are removed from the parents, regular visitation will be arranged.

On occasion a parent will not be offered reunification services. This happens in those cases in which the Legislature has determined that offering services would not be in the child's best interest. The specific circumstances are spelled out in the statute, and include parents who have caused the death of another child, have lost other children due to the same reasons present in the current case, or are whereabouts unknown. Even in these cases, however, the judge can order reunification services if it appears that it would be in the child's best interest to do so.

Review Hearings
After the hearing in which the orders regarding reunification services are made, the court reviews the case at six months, 12 months and occasionally 18 months. At each of these hearings, the court has to decide if the services offered the parents were reasonable, and if the parents have benefited from them such that the child could be safely returned home. In between these hearings, any party may file a motion for the court to make new orders or change existing orders.

If a child is returned to a parent, the court sets another hearing in 6 months to see if everything is going well and the child is safe.

Concurrent Planning - Reunification/Termination of Parental Rights
If the child has not been returned to the parent after 12, and in some cases 18, months, the parents reunification services are terminated and a permanent plan is adopted for the child. The most preferred permanent plan is adoption, if adoptions is not possible the child may receive legal guardianship, and if legal guardianship is not possible then the child is placed in long term foster care. CPS is required to engage in concurrent planning throughout the case. This means that while CPS is assisting the parents with their services, it is also required to be searching for a permanent home for the child, in case the parents are not successful.

The dependency case continues until the child is reunified with the parent and the court determines no further risk exists, or the child is adopted or placed into legal guardianship. SCA remains the child's attorney throughout the proceeding, making sure that the child's needs and wishes are represented at each stage.

Dependency cases can become very complex. There are numerous issues to be addressed and numerous hearings are held. Parties have the right to a trial before a judge on almost every issue and every stage of the proceedings. Parties also have a right of appeal from almost all orders of the juvenile court. In addition, the typical case lasts at least two years. Attorneys in dependency matters are specifically required to be competent in dependency law, and the dependency court is required by law to ensure each attorney's competence before the court appoints that attorney. See the section on Training on our web site for more information about competency.  During the pendency of the case, if the child is not returned home, the child must live in out-of-home placement - called foster care.