When a juvenile leaves a facility after being placed or committed there, what happens to the clock on the period of that protective disposition?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a juvenile case file, the papers to read are the juvenile court's disposition decision, which shows which category of disposition was ordered, and the facility's records showing when the juvenile was placed or committed, when the juvenile left, and when re-placement or re-commitment followed.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading gives effect to the words of the provision: where a juvenile who has received one of the dispositions it lists leaves the facility after placement or commitment there, the period of that disposition stops running, and it runs again from the point of re-placement or re-commitment, so the time spent outside the facility does not count towards the period.
Another reading notes what the provision does not settle: it states that the period stops and runs again from re-placement or re-commitment, but it does not say which record fixes the date the juvenile left, or which date counts as re-placement or re-commitment, the order or the juvenile's actual arrival.
Your judgment
Which date should the file treat as re-placement or re-commitment, the day the court decided to send the juvenile back, or the day the juvenile actually reached the facility?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to name the record that fixes these dates, or if a juvenile court decision explains when re-placement or re-commitment counts as having happened.