Rule 26-1. Definitions Applicable to Proceedings on Juvenile Matters

In these definitions and in the rules of practice and procedure on juvenile matters, the singular shall include the plural and the plural, the singular where appropriate.

(a) The definitions of the terms ''child,'' ''abused,'' ''delinquent,'' ''delinquent act,'' ''neglected,'' ''uncared for,'' ''alcohol-dependent,'' ''drug-dependent,'' ''serious juvenile offense,'' ''serious juvenile offender,'' ''serious juvenile repeat offender,'' ''predispositional study,'' and ''risk and needs assessment'' shall be as set forth in General Statutes § 46b120. The definition of ''victim'' shall be as set forth in General Statutes § 46b-122. The definition of ''youth'' shall be as set forth in General Statutes § 54-76b.

(b) ''Alleged genetic parent'' means a person who is alleged to be, or alleges that the person is, a genetic parent or possible genetic parent of a child or youth whose parentage has not been adjudicated. ''Alleged genetic parent'' includes an alleged genetic father and alleged genetic mother. ''Alleged genetic parent'' shall not include: (1) a presumed parent; (2) a person whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to exist; or (3) a donor.

(c) ''Clinical Coordinator'' means a licensed mental health professional with specialized forensic training and employed by the court support services division of the Judicial Branch to provide consultation and assessment in delinquency matters related to the behavioral health and mental health of the child.

(d) ''Clinical Consultation'' means the process by which the Clinical Coordinator provides guidance regarding mental health treatment or evaluation needs.

(e) ''Commitment'' means an order of the judicial authority whereby custody and/or guardianship of a child or youth are transferred to the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families.

(f) ''Complaint'' means a written allegation or statement presented to the judicial authority that a child's or youth's conduct as a delinquent brings the child or youth within the jurisdiction of the judicial authority as prescribed by General Statutes § 46b-121.

(g) ''Forensic Clinical Assessment'' means a court-ordered evaluation that is performed as part of the legal decision-making process to assist the court and others in decisions regarding interventions by taking into account the child's or youth's mental conditions, ability, behaviors, and relevant risk factors.

(h) ''Guardian'' means a person who has a judicially created relationship with a child or youth, which is intended to be permanent and self-sustaining, as evidenced by the transfer to the caretaker of the following parental rights with respect to the child or youth: protection, education, care and control of the person, custody of the person and decision making.

(i) ''Hearing'' means an activity of the court on the record in the presence of a judicial authority and shall include: (1) ''Adjudicatory hearing'' is a court hearing to determine the validity of the facts alleged in a petition or information to establish thereby the judicial authority's jurisdiction to decide the matter which is the subject of the petition or information; (2) ''Contested hearing on an order of temporary custody'' means a hearing on an ex parte order of temporary custody or an order to appear which is held not later than ten days from the day of a preliminary hearing on such orders. Contested hearings shall be held on consecutive days except for compelling circumstances or at the request of the respondent; (3) ''Dispositional hearing'' is a court hearing in which the judicial authority, after considering the social study or predispositional study and the total circumstances of the child or youth, orders whatever action is in the best interests of the child or youth or family and, where applicable, the community. In the discretion of the judicial authority, evidence concerning adjudication and disposition may be presented in a single hearing; (4) ''Preliminary hearing'' means a hearing on an ex parte order of temporary custody or an order to appear or the first hearing on a petition alleging that a child or youth is uncared for, abused, or neglected. A preliminary hearing on any ex parte custody order or order to appear shall be held not later than ten days from the issuance of the order; (5) ''Plea hearing'' is a hearing at which (A) a parent or guardian who is a named respondent in a neglect, uncared for or dependency petition, upon being advised of their rights, admits, denies, or pleads nolo contendere to allegations contained in the petition; or (B) a child or youth who is a named respondent in a delinquency petition or information enters a plea of not guilty, guilty, or nolo contendere upon being advised of the charges against them contained in the information or petition; (6) ''Probation status review hearing'' means a hearing requested, ex parte, by a probation officer regardless of whether a new offense or violation has been filed. The court may grant the ex parte request, in the best interest of the child or youth or the public, and convene a hearing on the request within seven days.

(j) ''Indian child'' means an unmarried person under age eighteen who is either a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe or is eligible for membership in a federally recognized Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe, and is involved in custody proceedings, excluding delinquency proceedings.

(k) ''Juvenile residential center'' means a hardware-secured residential facility operated by the court support services division of the Judicial Branch that includes direct staff supervision, surveillance enhancements and physical barriers that allow for close supervision and controlled movement in a treatment setting for preadjudicated juveniles and juveniles adjudicated as delinquent. ( l ) ''Parent'' means a person who has established a parent-child relationship pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-471.

(m) ''Parties'' includes: (1) The child or youth who is the subject of a proceeding; (2) any person, including a parent, whose legal relationship to the matter pending before the judicial authority is of such a nature and kind as to mandate the receipt of proper legal notice as a condition precedent to the establishment of the judicial authority's jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter pending before it; and (3) any person who is permitted to intervene in accordance with Section 35a-4.

(n) ''Person presumed to be the parent pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-488 (a) (3)'' means a person who jointly with another parent, resided in the same household with the child and openly held out the child as the person's own child from the time the child was born or adopted and for a period of at least two years thereafter, including any period of temporary absence.

(o) ''Permanency plan'' means a plan developed by the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families for the permanent placement of a child or youth in the commissioner's care. Permanency plans shall be reviewed by the judicial authority as prescribed in General Statutes §§ 17a-110 (b), 17a-111b (c) and 46b-129

(k) .

(p) ''Petition'' means a formal pleading, executed under oath, alleging that the respondent is within the judicial authority's jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter which is the subject of the petition by reason of cited statutory provisions and seeking a disposition. Except for a petition for erasure of record, such petitions invoke a judicial hearing and shall be filed by any one of the parties authorized to do so by statute.

(q) ''Information'' means a formal pleading filed by a prosecutor alleging that a child or youth in a delinquency matter is within the judicial authority's jurisdiction.

(r) ''Probation supervision'' means a legal status whereby a child or youth who has been adjudicated delinquent is placed by the court under the supervision of juvenile probation for a specified period of time and upon such terms as the court determines.

(s) ''Probation supervision with residential placement'' means a legal status whereby a child or youth who has been adjudicated delinquent is placed by the court under the supervision of juvenile probation for a specified period of time, upon such terms as the court determines, that include a period of placement in a secure or staff-secure residential treatment facility, as ordered by the court, and a period of supervision in the community.

(t) ''Respondent'' means a child or youth who is alleged to be a delinquent, or a parent or a guardian of a child or youth who is the subject of a petition alleging that the child or youth is uncared for, abused, neglected, or requesting termination of parental rights.

(u) ''Secure-residential facility'' means a hardware-secured residential facility that includes direct staff supervision, surveillance enhancements and physical barriers that allow for close supervision and controlled movement in a treatment setting.

(v) ''Service Memorandum'' means a written report completed by a clinical coordinator in response to a court order for a forensic clinical assessment.

(w) ''Specific steps'' means those judicially determined steps the parent or guardian and the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families shall take in order for the parent or guardian to retain or regain custody of a child or youth.

(x) ''Staff-secure facility'' means a residential facility: (1) that does not include construction features designed to physically restrict the movements and activities of juvenile residents who are placed therein; (2) that may establish reasonable rules restricting entrance to and egress from the facility; and (3) in which the movements and activities of individual juvenile residents may, for treatment purposes, be restricted or subject to control through the use of intensive staff supervision.

(y) ''Staff-secure residential facility'' means a residential facility that provides residential treatment for a child or youth in a structured setting monitored by staff.

(z) ''Supervision'' includes: (1) ''Nonjudicial supervision,'' a legal status without the filing of a petition or a court conviction or adjudication but following the child's or youth's admission to a complaint wherein a probation officer exercises supervision over the child or youth with the consent of the child or youth and the parent; (2) ''Protective supervision,'' a disposition following adjudication in neglected, abused or uncared for cases created by an order of the judicial authority requesting a supervising agency other than the court to assume the responsibility of furthering the welfare of the family and best interests of the child or youth when the child's or youth's place of abode remains with the parent or any suitable or worthy person, or when the judicial authority vests custody or guardianship in another suitable and worthy person, subject to the continuing jurisdiction of the court; and (3) ''Judicial supervision,'' a legal status similar to probation for a child or youth subject to supervision pursuant to an order of suspended delinquency proceedings under General Statutes § 46b-133b or § 46b-133e.

(aa) ''Take into Custody Order'' means an order by a judicial authority that a child or youth be taken into custody and immediately turned over to a Juvenile Residential Center Superintendent where probable cause has been found that the child or youth has committed a delinquent act, there is no less restrictive alternative available, and the child or youth meets the criteria set forth in Section 31a-13.

Committee Notes

(P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 1023.1.) (Amended June 24, 2002, amended June 13, 2014, to take effect Jan. 1, 2015; amended