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2022 California Rules of Court

Standard 5.40. Juvenile court matters

(a) Assignments to juvenile court

The presiding judge of the superior court should assign judges to the juvenile court to serve for a minimum of three years. Priority should exist given to judges who have expressed an interest in the assignment.

(b) Importance of juvenile court

The presiding judge of the juvenile court, in consultation with the presiding judge of the superior courtroom, should:

(ane)  Motivate and educate other judges regarding the significance of juvenile court.

(two)  Work to ensure that sufficient judges and staff, facilities, and financial resources are assigned to the juvenile court to allow adequate time to hear and decide the matters before information technology.

(Subd (b) amended constructive Jan i, 2007.)

(c) Standards of representation and compensation

The presiding guess of the juvenile court should:

(1)  Encourage attorneys who practice in juvenile court, including all court-appointed and contract attorneys, to go along their do in juvenile courtroom for substantial periods of time. A substantial menstruum of time is at to the lowest degree two years and preferably from iii to five years.

(2)  Confer with the county public defender, county commune attorney, canton counsel, and other public police office leaders and encourage them to raise the status of attorneys working in the juvenile courts as follows: hire attorneys who are interested in serving in the juvenile court for a substantial part of their careers; permit and encourage attorneys, based on interest and ability, to remain in juvenile courtroom assignments for significant periods of time; and piece of work to ensure that attorneys who have chosen to serve in the juvenile court have the aforementioned promotional and salary opportunities equally attorneys practicing in other assignments within a law office.

(3)  Establish minimum standards of practice to which all court-appointed and public office attorneys will be expected to arrange. These standards should delineate the responsibilities of attorneys relative to investigation and evaluation of the instance, preparation for and conduct of hearings, and advancement for their respective clients.

(iv)  In conjunction with other leaders in the legal customs, ensure that attorneys appointed in the juvenile courtroom are compensated in a manner equivalent to attorneys appointed by the court in other types of cases.

(Subd (c) amended effective January 1, 2007; adopted effective July 1, 1992.)

(d) Grooming and orientation

The presiding estimate of the juvenile court should:

(1)  Establish relevant prerequisites for courtroom-appointed attorneys and advocates in the juvenile court.

(two)  Develop orientation and in-service training programs for judicial officers, attorneys, volunteers, law enforcement personnel, court personnel, and kid advocates to ensure that all are adequately trained concerning all issues relating to special education rights and responsibilities, including the correct of each child with exceptional needs to receive a free, appropriate public education and the right of each kid with educational disabilities to receive accommodations.

(iii)  Promote the establishment of a library or other resource center in which information about juvenile court do (including books, periodicals, videotapes, and other grooming materials) can be collected and made available to all participants in the juvenile system.

(4)  Ensure that attorneys who appear in juvenile courtroom have sufficient training to perform their jobs competently, as follows: require that all court-appointed attorneys meet minimum preparation and continuing legal education standards as a status of their date to juvenile courtroom matters; and encourage the leaders of public constabulary offices that have responsibilities in juvenile courtroom to require their attorneys who appear in juvenile court to have at least the aforementioned training and standing legal educational activity required of court-appointed attorneys.

(Subd (d) amended constructive January 1, 2001; adopted effective July i, 1989; previously amended and relettered constructive July ane, 1992.)

(e) Unique role of a juvenile court gauge

Judges of the juvenile courtroom, in consultation with the presiding judge of the juvenile court and the presiding gauge of the superior court, to the extent that information technology does not interfere with the adjudication process, are encouraged to:

(1)  Provide agile leadership within the customs in determining the needs of and obtaining and developing resource and services for at-hazard children and families. At-gamble children include delinquents, dependents, and condition offenders.

(2)  Investigate and determine the availability of specific prevention, intervention, and treatment services in the community for at-run a risk children and their families.

(iii)  Practise their authority by statute or rule to review, order, and enforce the commitment of specific services and treatment for at-risk children and their families.

(four)  Do a leadership part in the evolution and maintenance of permanent programs of interagency cooperation and coordination amongst the courtroom and the various public agencies that serve at-risk children and their families.

(five)  Take an active function in the formation of a communitywide network to promote and unify private and public sector efforts to focus attending and resource for at-risk children and their families.

(half-dozen)  Maintain close liaison with schoolhouse authorities and encourage coordination of policies and programs.

(7)  Brainwash the community and its institutions through every bachelor ways, including the media, concerning the office of the juvenile court in meeting the complex needs of at-take chances children and their families.

(eight)  Evaluate the criteria established by child protection agencies for initial removal and reunification decisions and communicate the court'southward expectations of what constitutes "reasonable efforts" to prevent removal or hasten return of the child.

(9)  Encourage the evolution of community services and resources to assist homeless, truant, runaway, and incorrigible children.

(10)  Be familiar with all detention facilities, placements, and institutions used past the court.

(xi)  Act in all instances consequent with the public safety and welfare.

(Subd (eastward) amended constructive January 1, 2007; adopted constructive July ane, 1989; previously relettered effective July ane, 1992.)

(f) Engagement of attorneys and other persons

For the appointment of attorneys, arbitrators, mediators, referees, masters, receivers, and other persons, each court should follow rule x.611 and the guidelines of standard x.21.

(Subd (f) amended effective January 1, 2007; adopted effective January one, 1999.)

(thou) Educational rights of children in the juvenile court

The juvenile court should be guided by certain general principles:

(i)  A significant number of children in the juvenile courtroom process have exceptional needs that, if properly identified and assessed, would qualify such children to receive special instruction and related services under federal and state teaching law (a complimentary, appropriate public education) (encounter Ed. Code, § 56000 et seq. and xx United states of americaC. § 1400 et seq.);

(ii)  Many children in the juvenile court process have disabilities that, if properly identified and assessed, would qualify such children to receive educational accommodations (meet § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [29 U.S.C. § 794; 34 C.F.R. § 104.one et seq.]);

(iii)  Unidentified and unremediated exceptional needs and unaccommodated disabilities have been constitute to correlate strongly with juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, mental health problems, teenage pregnancy, school failure and dropout, and adult unemployment and crime; and

(4)  The toll of incarcerating children is essentially greater than the cost of providing special education and related services to exceptional needs children and providing educational accommodations to children with disabilities.

(Subd (g) adopted effective January 1, 2001.)

(h) Function of the juvenile court

The juvenile courtroom should:

(1)  Take responsibility, with the other juvenile courtroom participants at every stage of the kid'southward case, to ensure that the kid'due south educational needs are met, regardless of whether the child is in the custody of a parent or is suitably placed in the custody of the child welfare agency or probation department and regardless of where the kid is placed in school. Each child under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court with exceptional needs has the right to receive a free, appropriate public education, specially designed, at no cost to the parents, to run into the child'southward unique special education needs. (See Ed. Code, § 56031 and 20 U.s.C. § 1401(8).) Each child with disabilities nether the jurisdiction of the juvenile courtroom has the correct to receive accommodations. (See § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [29 U.s.a.C. § 794; 34 C.F.R. § 104.ane et seq. (1980)].) The court should also ensure that each parent or guardian receives data and help concerning his or her child'south educational entitlements as provided past law.

(ii)  Provide oversight of the social service and probation agencies to ensure that a child's educational rights are investigated, reported, and monitored. The court should piece of work within the statutory framework to accommodate the sharing of information between agencies. A child who comes earlier the court and is suspected of having exceptional needs or other educational disabilities should be referred in writing for an assessment to the kid's school master or to the schoolhouse district'south special education office. (See Ed. Code, §§ 56320–56329.) The child's parent, teacher, or other service provider may brand the required written referral for assessment. (Run across Ed. Code, § 56029.)

(3)  Require that court reports, example plans, assessments, and permanency plans considered by the court address a child'southward educational entitlements and how those entitlements are being satisfied, and comprise information to help the court in deciding whether the right of the parent or guardian to make educational decisions for the child should be limited by the court under Welfare and Institutions Lawmaking section 361(a) or 726(b). Information concerning whether the school district has met its obligation to provide educational services to the child, including special educational services if the child has exceptional needs nether Educational activity Code section 56000 et seq., and to provide accommodations if the child has disabilities as defined in section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 794; 34 C.F.R. § 104.i et seq. (1980)) should also be included, along with a recommendation for disposition.

(iv)  Facilitate coordination of services by joining the local educational agency as a party when it appears that an educational bureau has failed to fulfill its legal obligations to provide special educational activity and related services or accommodations to a child in the juvenile court who has been identified as having exceptional needs or educational disabilities. (Meet Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 362(a), 727(a).)

(five)  Make appropriate orders limiting the educational rights of a parent or guardian who cannot exist located or identified, or who is unwilling or unable to be an agile participant in ensuring that the child's educational needs are met, and appoint a responsible developed as educational representative for such a child or, if a representative cannot be identified and the child may exist eligible for special education and related services or already has an individualized instruction plan, utilise form JV-535 to refer the child to the local educational bureau for special education and related services and prompt appointment of a surrogate parent. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 361, 726; Ed. Code, § 56156.)

(6)  Ensure that special instruction, related services, and accommodations to which the child is entitled are provided whenever the child's school placement changes. (See Ed. Code, § 56325.)

(Subd (h) amended effective January one, 2007; adopted effective January 1, 2001; previously amended effective January 1, 2004.)

Standard five.40 amended and renumbered constructive January one, 2007; adopted as sec. 24 effective January 1, 1989; previously amended effective July 1, 1992, Jan one, 1999; January one, 2001, and January ane, 2004.

Subdivision (a). Considering the constantly evolving changes in the law, as well as the unique nature of the proceedings in juvenile court, the juvenile court judge should be willing to commit to a tenure of iii years. Non but does this tenure beget the gauge the opportunity to become well acquainted with the total juvenile justice circuitous, merely information technology also provides continuity to a organisation that demands it.

Dependency cases under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 for the most part terminal 18 months. The juvenile court judge has a responsibility to oversee these cases, and a single guess's involvement over this period of time is important to help ensure positive results. The ultimate goal should be to perfect a system that serves the needs of both recipients and providers. This tin can only be done over fourth dimension and with constant application of effective energy.

Subdivision (b)(2). The juvenile court is an integral part of the justice arrangement. It is only through the constant exertion of pressure to maintain resources and the continuous education of courtroom-related personnel and administrators that the historic trend to minimize the juvenile court can be independent.

Subdivision (c)(4). The quality of justice in the juvenile court is in large part dependent on the quality of the attorneys who appear on behalf of the unlike parties before the court. The presiding approximate of the juvenile court plays a pregnant role in ensuring that a sufficient number of attorneys of high quality are available to the parties actualization in juvenile courtroom.

Juvenile court practice requires attorneys who have both a special involvement in and a noun understanding of the piece of work of the courtroom. Obtaining and retaining qualified attorneys for the juvenile courtroom requires constructive recruiting, preparation, and employment considerations.

The importance of juvenile court work must exist stressed to ensure that juvenile court assignments have the aforementioned condition and career enhancement opportunities as other assignments for public police force office attorneys.

The presiding judge of the juvenile courtroom should urge leaders of public police offices serving the juvenile courtroom to assign experienced, interested, and capable attorneys to that court, and to establish hiring and promotional policies that will encourage the development of a partitioning of the part dedicated to working in the juvenile court.

National commentators are in accord with these propositions: "Court-appointed and public attorneys representing children in abuse and neglect cases, as well as judges, should exist specially trained or experienced. Juvenile and family courts should not exist the 'grooming ground' for inexperienced attorneys or judges." (Metropolitan Court Judges Commission, National Quango of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Deprived Children: A Judicial Response-73 Recommendations (1986) p. xiv.)

Fees paid to attorneys actualization in juvenile court are sometimes less than the fees paid attorneys doing other legal work. Such a payment scheme demeans the piece of work of the juvenile court, leading many to believe that such work is less of import. Information technology may discourage attorneys from selecting juvenile court practice as a career pick. The incarceration of a child in a detention facility or a child's permanent loss of his or her family through a termination of parental rights proceeding is at least as important as any other work in the legal organisation. Compensation for the legal work in the juvenile courtroom should reflect the importance of this work.

Subdivision (d)(4). Juvenile courtroom law is a specialized surface area of the law that requires dedication and report. The juvenile court judge has a responsibility to maintain loftier quality in the practise of law in the juvenile court. The quality of representation in the juvenile court depends in skilful part on the education of the lawyers who appear there. In order to make certain that all parties receive adequate representation, information technology is important that attorneys take adequate training before they begin practice in juvenile court and on a continuing basis thereafter. The presiding guess of the juvenile courtroom should mandate such training for all courtroom-appointed attorneys and urge leaders of public police offices to provide at least comparable training for attorneys assigned to juvenile court.

A minimum of six hours of standing legal education is suggested; more hours are recommended. Education methods can include lectures and tapes that meet the legal education requirements.

In addition to basic legal training in juvenile dependency and malversation law, evidentiary problems, and effective trial practice techniques, training should also include of import related issues, including child development, alternative resources for families, effects and treatment of substance corruption, domestic violence, abuse, fail, modification and enforcement of all court orders, dependency, delinquency, guardianships, conservatorships, interviewing children, and emancipation. Teaching may also include observational experience such as site visits to institutions and operations critical to the juvenile court.

A significant bulwark to the institution and maintenance of well-trained attorneys is a lack of educational materials relating to juvenile courtroom practise. Law libraries, law offices, and court systems traditionally exercise not devote adequate resources to the purchase of such educational materials.

Constructive January 1, 1993, guidelines and training material will exist bachelor from Judicial Quango staff.

Subdivision (east)(xi). A superior court judge assigned to the juvenile court occupies a unique position inside California'due south judiciary. In addition to the traditional function of adequately and efficiently resolving disputes before the court, the juvenile court gauge is statutorily required to belch other duties. California law empowers the juvenile court approximate not just to order services for children under its jurisdiction, merely also to enforce and review the delivery of those services. This oversight function includes the obligation to understand and work with the public and private agencies, including schoolhouse systems, that provide services and treatment programs for children and families. As such, the juvenile courtroom consignment requires a dramatic shift in emphasis from judging in the traditional sense.

The legislative directive to juvenile court judges to "improve system operation in a vigorous and ongoing manner" (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 202) poses no disharmonize with traditional concepts of judicial ethics. Active and public judicial back up and encouragement of programs serving children and families at risk are important functions of the juvenile court judge that enhance the overall assistants of justice.

The standards in (e) are derived from statutory requirements in the following sections of the Welfare and Institutions Lawmaking every bit well as the supplementary material promulgated by the National Quango of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and others: (one) Welfare and Institutions Lawmaking, sections 202, 209, 300, 317, 318, 319, 362, 600, 601, 654, 702, 727; (2) California Code of Judicial Deport, canon four; (three) Metropolitan Court Judges Commission, National Council of Juvenile and Family unit Court Judges, Deprived Children: A Judicial Response-73 Recommendations (1986), Recommendations 1–7, 14, 35, 40; and (4) National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Kid Welfare League of America, Youth Law Center, and the National Middle for Youth Law, Making Reasonable Efforts: Steps for Keeping Families Together pp. 43–59.

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