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Yes: 161 • No: 0
ArkansasSB3202025 Regular SessionSenateWALLET
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS JUVENILE CODE OF 1989.
Sponsored By: Carol Dalby (Republican), Missy Irvin (Republican)
Enacted
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129 provisions identified: 57 benefits, 15 costs, 57 mixed.
Detained youth get limits on isolation
Punitive isolation or solitary confinement for discipline generally cannot last more than 24 hours in a juvenile detention facility. Each additional 24 hours requires assault, an imminent threat of harm, or escape or attempted escape, plus the director's written approval. Solitary confinement is prohibited for pregnant, recently postpartum, breastfeeding, specified postpartum-condition, or in-facility caregiving youth. Exceptions involve violence causing or likely to cause serious injury or death, or a substantial risk of imminent serious injury or death to another person.
Families keep paths to returning home
The court decides whether to pursue more than one permanent-home goal. When adoption is a goal, reunification services continue unless the court finds them unnecessary, parental rights end, or another plan is finalized. At review, the court must return a child when health and safety are adequately protected and return serves the child's best interest. An incomplete case plan alone cannot block the child's return home.
Lawyer rights for juveniles facing charges
Juveniles and caregivers must be told about the juvenile's right to a lawyer throughout delinquency cases. That right also covers every stage, including reviews, of extended juvenile jurisdiction cases. Courts must appoint a lawyer for court appearances when one is not retained or likely to be retained, unless waived. Appointment is also required when a commitment limiting freedom is reasonably likely and no lawyer has been retained. The lawyer must have time to prepare and consult with the juvenile.
Relatives get priority for child placements
When a child enters state custody or must leave home, DHS must promptly assess a noncustodial parent and recommended relatives. It must also assess close family-like caregivers identified by the child. Unless background checks show safety problems, identified people must receive written information about screening, supports, response deadlines, and caseworker contacts. Assessment continues until the required custody or placement occurs. Qualified relatives and family-like caregivers get priority at every placement stage when placement serves the child's best interest. A court denying placement must explain why in writing and cannot rely only on the child's bond with foster parents.
Foster care stays available until age 21
Young people found dependent or dependent-neglected before 18 can ask to continue court jurisdiction until age 21. They must meet, or have a workable plan to meet, education, training, work, or documented medical-condition requirements. Those in foster care at 18 who later left can petition to return before 21. DHS must allow reentry upon a verbal or written request, regardless of funding. Reentry is also required when evidence shows specified agency failures or agency pressure to leave care.
Broader child abuse and neglect rules
The law covers children at substantial risk from abuse, neglect, abandonment, parental unfitness, or known exposure to methamphetamine production. Abuse includes specified injuries, substance exposure, and forced child labor; conduct must meet the legal definition. Neglect includes newborn drug exposure following the mother's knowing illegal drug use, failures to supervise or protect, and school enrollment failures at ages 6–17. Repeated, unjustified school absences caused by a caregiver also count, and bodily-fluid tests can serve as evidence. Reasonable, moderate discipline is excluded only if injuries do not exceed brief pain or minor temporary marks. Certain brief restraint injuries are excluded only when danger, lack of alternatives, trained staff, and facility-policy requirements are met.
Court noncompliance can change permanent custody
Courts can grant permanent custody to another person after proof that the removed parent or guardian did not follow court orders. This option applies when no further services or periodic reviews are required. It establishes a permanent placement for the child while changing the removed adult's custody rights.
Ending parental rights ends services too
Termination generally ends the parent's legal rights, powers, and duties, including attached rights of a putative parent. The child's inheritance right continues until a final adoption order, and the other legally established parent's rights remain intact. The order can authorize the Department of Human Services to consent to adoption. The terminated parent's party status ends without further notice. Terminated parents and potential parents found to have no attached rights receive no notice or hearing in later proceedings. Reunification services end, and appointed counsel is released subject to appeal rules. An indigent parent who successfully appeals must receive appointed counsel again.
Families can seek restored parental rights
DHS or the child's lawyer can seek resumed services after rights termination when the child lacks likely permanency in DHS custody or a permanent placement has failed. The usual three-year wait can be waived for the child's best interest; active orders require reviews every 90 days. After at least 180 days of resumed services and substantial parental compliance, they can petition the original termination court for reinstatement. Clear and convincing evidence must show materially changed parental circumstances and the child's best interest; the court weighs permanency, the child's wishes, parental fitness, and well-being. Courts may deny reinstatement for interference with permanency; restoration returns custody rights and support duties, and a child placed with the parent must live there six months before closure. The rule also reaches earlier termination orders for children under court jurisdiction at the termination hearing.
Fifteen-month review can end parental rights
After 15 continuous months outside home, courts must review termination filings when the goal is reunification or another planned permanent arrangement. Trial placements and runaway time do not count. Courts must authorize filing unless exceptions apply, including relative care, a parent in foster care, compelling reasons, or missing DHS services. If adoption is the goal, DHS must file by the child's fifteenth month in foster care. These deadlines support permanent homes but can lead to the loss of parental rights.
Parent services continue with court exceptions
The Department of Human Services must include incarcerated parents in case planning and monitor prison services as federal law permits. Visits must be offered when appropriate and in the child's best interest. Courts can excuse reunification efforts for proven grounds, including aggravated circumstances, listed child-related offenses, prior sibling termination, infant abandonment, or sex-offender registry status. The code does not require reunification with a surviving child after a parent's conviction for a listed offense. A motion to deny services must give facts and grounds, with written notice at least 20 days before the hearing. The hearing must finish within 50 days after notice to defendants, with a possible 20-day extension for good cause. Denial requires clear and convincing evidence of a legal ground and the child's best interest. A permanency hearing is due within 30 days unless permanency is achieved or a termination petition is filed during that period.
Parents face defined rights-ending court rules
Only the Department of Human Services or a court-appointed lawyer for the child can seek this termination remedy. Ending parental rights requires clear and convincing evidence of a legal ground and the child's best interest. The court considers likely adoption and potential harm from returning home. Grounds include abandonment, consent, specified abuse or neglect, and failures involving support, contact, or unresolved safety issues despite services. Some grounds involve at least 12 months outside parental custody or home; those months need not be consecutive or immediately before filing. Additional grounds include imprisonment for a substantial part of the child's life, listed offenses, and aggravated circumstances. Aggravated circumstances include three or more removals in 15 months or a finding that reunification services are unlikely to succeed. Prior involuntary termination is also a ground, but the parent can show the original conditions were remedied; abandoned infants are also covered.
Required detention and safeguards for children
Officers can take children into custody without a warrant only under court orders or the cited criminal-procedure or child-protection authority. Officers must make every effort to tell the custodial adult the child's location. Detention is required for unlawful handgun possession, school-property handgun possession, vehicle firearm discharge, armed felonies, and criminal use of prohibited weapons. Intake notice is due within 24 hours; the hearing is due within 72 hours, or the next business day after a weekend or holiday deadline. Other offenses allow different detention or release options; an adult jail or lock-up is permitted when no juvenile bed is available.
Services and safeguards before child removal
Courts must order suitable services before removing children in dependency-neglect or family-services cases, unless health or safety requires immediate removal. Written orders must explain the evidence and welfare, safety, and best-interest findings. Within 60 days, courts must assess services and reasonable efforts; an unsafe emergency first contact counts as reasonable efforts. Probable cause of immediate danger or removal from Arkansas requires an emergency custody order without advance notice; dependency requires DHS custody. Safeguards can restrict custodian contact or protect an existing placement lasting over six months when DHS has no immediate health concerns.
Teens face detention with education protections
Courts can order juvenile detention for an indeterminate period of up to 90 days. Courts can permit work release, school, or educational and job training during detention. Facilities must provide educational, recreational, and other rehabilitative opportunities. Courts can also order residential detention with electronic monitoring at home or another court-ordered facility.
Unconfirmed parents face contact-based rights termination
Courts may end a putative parent's rights for failing to establish or maintain meaningful contact with the child. This applies to a claimed parent only after service, required notice, and a finding that parental rights have attached. Failure is willful only when no one prevented visits or contact; the court also considers distance to the child's placement. A termination on this basis does not count as an involuntary termination.
Victim repayment duties with family safeguards
Courts can order children, parents, guardians, or custodians to repay victims, capped initially at $10,000 per victim; other law allows excess recovery. Amounts can be agreed or proved by the State at a hearing by a preponderance of evidence. Courts must consider resources, ability to pay, rehabilitation, and other factors, and can allow installments; sanctions for nonpayment require ability-to-pay consideration. Restitution can become a civil judgment or lien, and multiple children share liability for the full amount unless ordered otherwise. When Arkansas is the custodian, the State Claims Commission decides liability and the assessable amount.
Children gain police questioning protections
Officers need reasonable cause to stop a child near a felony scene as a witness and must explain the stop. Stops cannot exceed 15 minutes unless the child refuses requested information. Further detention then requires immediate presentation to a judicial officer or prosecutor. Before custodial questioning, officers must give Miranda warnings in the child's own language. Officers cannot question a child who declines questioning or asks to consult a lawyer or speak with or have a custodial adult present.
Children get lawyers protecting their interests
Courts must appoint a qualified lawyer to protect a child's best interests in dependency-neglect cases. Appointment occurs when the petition is filed or an emergency order is entered, whichever happens first. The lawyer must participate as needed and can review relevant records within federal-law limits. Court-appointed special advocates receive protection from personal-injury and property-damage claims under the Arkansas Volunteer Immunity Act.
Children in protection cases avoid detention
Dependent-neglected children generally cannot be held in secure detention, delinquency facilities, or adult facilities. A narrow juvenile-facility exception requires more than 24 hours away from home and a contacted caregiver over 50 driving miles away or out of state. The child must be separated from delinquency detainees. Holding is limited to six hours for an in-state contact or 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, for an out-of-state contact. A child in an adjudicated family-in-need-of-services case can also be detained after a valid court-order violation and due process. Neither exception allows an adult jail.
Children's placements get continuing court oversight
Covered dependency-neglect cases get a first review within six months of the original out-of-home placement, then every six months until permanency. Reviews also cover children returned home while family-service orders continue, but this schedule excludes youth over 18 choosing extended foster care. Orders must address children's needs, health, safety, education, family services, caregiver progress toward safe return, and permanent-home goals. Courts must assess Human Services' reasonable efforts toward permanency within one year of removal and annually afterward. After parental rights end, reviews continue at least every six months until permanency, with yearly planning hearings after the first. For placements outside Human Services foster homes, courts can order progress reports, served by restricted-delivery certified mail or process server; providers must immediately report health or safety incidents to the child's lawyer and custodian and can face contempt for disobeying reporting orders.
Custody reviews and trial returns for parents
Courts presume noncustodial parents fit, assess their role in neglect, and can award custody or visits based on best interests. Parent transfers need no home study and do not end the removed parent's services unless ordered; courts must identify unresolved safety factors. Court-ordered trial returns last up to 60 days, or 180 days with DHS consent; DHS trial placements can last 180 days. Noncustodial trial placements require best interests, unrestricted contact, and no safety concerns after criminal, household, and DHS record reviews. Courts must consider the least restrictive placement and document safety concerns; an unfinished case plan alone cannot block placement. At trial's end, courts must award custody to the parent or former custodian, or DHS must return the child to authorized care.
Custody rights for mothers and fathers
When paternity is not established, the biological mother has care, custody, and control unless a court orders otherwise. This applies to adult and minor mothers. A father with court-established paternity can seek custody in the county where the child lives. Custody requires proof that he is fit, has provided care, supervision, protection, and financial support, and custody serves the child's best interests. The court uses the more-likely-than-not standard of proof.
Detention limits for children needing services
Children in dependency-neglect or family-services cases generally cannot be held in secure, delinquency, or adult detention. Juvenile facilities can briefly hold them for identification, processing, release, or transfer. Another exception covers children away over 24 hours whose contacted adult lives over 50 miles away or out of state. Holds must be as short as necessary, separate from delinquency detainees, and never in adult-incarceration facilities. Limits are six hours for an Arkansas adult or 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, for an out-of-state adult.
Family notice and temporary holding limits
For covered custody cases outside the separate delinquency rules, officers must use shelter care and notify the department and court intake officer. They must try every possible way to notify caregivers and give written location, petition-copy, court-contact, and hearing information. A special juvenile-facility hold applies only if the contact lives over 50 driving miles away or out of state, and the child has been away over 24 hours. Holds last only as long as needed for processing, release, or transfer: at most six hours for in-state contacts or 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, for out-of-state contacts. Adult incarceration facilities are prohibited, children must be separated from delinquency detainees, and officers otherwise must return them home.
Foster youth can extend court support
Youth in foster care before 18 can request continued court jurisdiction when their family was found to need services. They must meet, or have a viable plan to meet, the code's independent-living requirements. The court can continue jurisdiction until age 21, but never beyond it. Jurisdiction must end if the youth requests it or completes or is discontinued from the required independent-living services.
Juvenile restitution capped at $10,000 per victim
Juvenile restitution orders cannot exceed $10,000 per victim or the specific damages proved, whichever is lower. The court must find it more likely than not that the juvenile directly caused those damages. Victims can still seek damages above $10,000 under other law.
Juveniles face limits on adult jails
Juveniles generally cannot be confined in adult jails, except when transferred or charged for adult prosecution or during narrow short holds. An alleged delinquent can be held up to six hours for identification, processing, release, or transfer arrangements, separated from adults by sight and sound. Outside a metropolitan area, a hold awaiting court can last up to 24 hours when no acceptable alternative exists. That exception requires an alleged misdemeanor, felony, or the listed firearm-possession violation, plus sight-and-sound separation. Travel distance or lack of ground transportation can justify up to 24 more hours while the other requirements remain satisfied.
Juveniles released when filing deadlines pass
An alleged delinquent juvenile must be released from custody, detention, or shelter care if no petition is filed on time. The deadline is 24 hours after the detention hearing or 96 hours after custody, whichever comes first. If the 96-hour deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the close of the next business day.
Lawyer access for parents and guardians
Parents and custodians have a right to a lawyer in dependency-neglect cases; guardians with court-ordered custody count as custodians. Appointed counsel generally requires financial need and a request, including at hearings to end parental rights. Courts must appoint counsel when an emergency order removes legal custody, then check eligibility at the probable-cause hearing. Minor parents named as defendants must receive qualified parent counsel. Courts may appoint counsel for noncustodial parents with significant custodial ties. Alleged fathers have no general appointment right; appointment depends on contact, established rights, financial need, due process, and a request.
Limits on sharing children's case information
Family-services, dependency-neglect, and covered arrest or detention information stays confidential, including family-services records under public-records rules. Allowed service or safety sharing must be reasonably necessary, court-authorized in writing, and limited to listed recipients. For covered meetings of three or more recipients, children and parents or guardians receive advance notice and may attend. Medical and mental health records require a parent's or guardian's written waiver naming the records and purpose. School superintendents must promptly notify principals, school resource officers, and staff with legitimate educational interests; unlawful disclosures can bring civil liability.
More protection for exploited children
Sexual abuse includes recruiting, harboring, transporting, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting a child for a commercial sex act. Other covered sexual conduct depends on the people's ages and relationships, including caretaker or spouse status. Grooming includes knowingly sending sexual material, including online, to entice a child age 13 or younger into specified sexual activity. An actor no more than three years older than the child has an affirmative defense to grooming. Trafficking victims can qualify as dependent juveniles; when a parent knew or should have known, dependency-neglect classification applies instead. A child whose adoption has disrupted can also qualify as dependent when adoptive parents have exhausted available resources.
Older foster children get placement safeguards
Another planned permanent living arrangement is available only for children age 16 or older. The department must document a compelling reason not to choose another permanent-home plan. The court must explain why the arrangement is best for the child. It must also explain why return home, adoption, guardianship, or a fit and willing relative is not best.
Parents get stronger family visit protections
At each hearing, unsupervised family time is presumed best unless the petitioner proves otherwise by a preponderance of evidence. A finding against unsupervised time requires supervised visits. DHS may allow unsupervised time when the court has not restricted it and finds safety and best interests protected. A positive drug test alone cannot cancel ordered visits, but current impairment, intoxication, or unsafe behavior can. Relatives or close family-like caregivers can drive children to visits when best for the child, after background and maltreatment checks and meeting DHS driving rules.
Parents get ten days to withdraw consent
Parents can withdraw consent to end parental rights by filing an affidavit within 10 calendar days after signing. If the deadline falls on a weekend or legal holiday, filing is allowed the next working day. No filing fee is allowed. The consent form must explain this right and give the designated circuit clerk's address.
Potential parents get notice and hearings
A potential parent must be named in a dependency-neglect case when possible paternity or significant contact is alleged. Listing on the Putative Father Registry also triggers inclusion. The court must add a person later found to be a parent. A potential parent not named and served must receive notice as soon as identified. After notice and a chance to be heard, the court can order DNA testing or decide rights and participation.
Privacy protections for children's court records
News media cannot publish information identifying a child in a covered juvenile case without a written circuit-court order. Covered arrest, detention, delinquency, and investigation records are confidential and outside public-records disclosure. Exceptions include written juvenile-court orders, felony charges in criminal court, and disclosures otherwise allowed by the law.
Privacy protections for children's court records
Schools must receive court-ordered student safety plans and orders, including updates or removal, through the superintendent and principal. Verbal sharing is limited to staff needed to carry out the plan; confidentiality statements and federal education-record protections apply. Schools cannot release the plan and order to the public, colleges, trade schools, or employers. They must destroy them when juvenile-court jurisdiction ends. Courts must expunge dependency-neglect records at age 21 and can expunge other juvenile records at any time.
Safe returns home and family visits
Before transferring custody, courts must find that preventive family services were reasonably attempted and placement outside the home is necessary. If services were not attempted, courts can dismiss the case or order services, but can still transfer custody for safety or to keep the child under court authority. Courts must return children when home is safe and return serves their best interests; an incomplete case plan alone cannot block return. Ordered supervised visits must total at least four hours weekly, unless that harms the child's interests or causes extreme hardship.
Safer placements and clear caregiver duties
Children in Department of Human Services custody must stay in approved or licensed settings, or with an exempt child welfare agency. The law classifies them as “awaiting foster care placement” under the federal McKinney-Vento law. Appointed custodians must provide care, protection, education, and training; custody orders allow school enrollment and access to medical and school records. Custodians can obtain medical care, and agency custodians can approve vacation or similar travel. For immediate danger in a court-ordered placement, the department can move the child immediately, must notify parties within 24 hours, and must provide a requested hearing within five business days.
Some teens receive juvenile court outcomes
Criminal courts can transfer qualifying cases involving teens ages 14 through 17 to juvenile court under extended juvenile jurisdiction. Transfer requires a charge listed in Arkansas Code § 5-13-310(c)(2) and a court finding that transfer is appropriate. For 14- and 15-year-olds found guilty in criminal court, judges must enter a juvenile delinquency disposition when the offense is not listed in § 5-13-310(b) or § 5-13-310(c)(2).
Stronger lawyer protections for children
Children in family-in-need-of-services cases must hear about lawyer rights at custody, intake, and their first court appearance. Appointment depends on retained counsel, waiver rules, and, for possible institutional commitment, a judge finding commitment reasonably likely. At delinquency hearings, clear and convincing evidence must show an informed, voluntary waiver, with informed agreement from an adult or counsel without conflicting interests. Waiver is barred for listed parent-initiated cases, likely commitment, extended juvenile jurisdiction, and children in state custody. Courts must appoint counsel when the custodial adult cannot be found or refuses to attend; out-of-court waivers must be signed.
Teens get structured assessments before commitment
The courts' administrative office must work with courts to use validated risk and needs assessments for delinquency dispositions and treatment plans. Interviews include the juvenile and a parent, guardian, or custodian; intake information is confidential, cannot be used against the juvenile, and cannot discuss the current charge. Assessments and updates must reach necessary parties seven days before the hearing; updates can be ordered after significant treatment-plan changes. Commitment decisions must use one statewide validated system selected by the Juvenile Judges Committee and Division of Youth Services. Courts considering commitment must make written findings and consider the juvenile's history, prior or available less restrictive services, relevant reports, and other relevant factors.
Youth get stronger court process safeguards
Courts must review all circumstances before accepting a juvenile's confession as voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. Factors include maturity, understanding, parent or custodian circumstances, notice of the alleged act, pressure, access to counsel, and recording. Continued detention requires clear and convincing evidence that restricting liberty is necessary. The petitioner must also show that no less restrictive option will reduce flight risk or serious harm to property or anyone's physical safety. The provided placement rule bars court placement of an unadjudicated juvenile in Department of Human Services custody.
Children's major medical decisions need approval
During an open child abuse or neglect case, custodians need express court approval for certain major medical decisions. These include organ removal, amputation, or withholding life-saving or life-sustaining treatment. Organ removal or amputation can proceed without approval when needed to save the child's life in the specified emergencies.
Emancipated youth keep help and support
Eligible emancipated youth can request independent-living services and funding from the Department of Human Services. Federal program eligibility as a juvenile continues until adulthood. Child support orders continue unless the issuing court orders otherwise. Emancipation does not remove compulsory school attendance or laws protecting people under 18, including bans on obtaining alcohol or tobacco. It also does not change statutes of limitations.
Foster youth get help leaving care
DHS must help foster youth apply for ARKids First, Medicaid, or other health coverage. It must also help with housing referrals, employment or financial support, and education admission and aid when appropriate. DHS must help youth build and maintain supportive relationships, but application help does not guarantee benefits. DHS cannot request closure of a foster-care case until it completes required transition steps. The youth and their lawyer must receive notice before a closure hearing. Courts keep authority after age 18 to ensure DHS complies.
Foster youth get transition and money information
Foster youth and their lawyers must fully help develop transition plans when youth are medically and developmentally able. DHS must refer youth needing adult guardianship assistance to the Office of Public Guardian for Adults. Referral is due six months before 18 or upon entering care, whichever is later. An office representative joins transition planning and explains adult services. Within 30 days after leaving care, DHS must account for money it holds that the youth is owed, including how and when to access it.
Education required during covered juvenile detention
Juvenile detention facilities must provide education and other rehabilitation services for covered juveniles found delinquent. The requirement applies when a court orders an unspecified-length stay of no more than 90 days.
Foster youth get adulthood plans and records
Human Services must help youth in or entering foster care make a transition plan at age 14 or within 90 days of their fourteenth birthday, whichever occurs first. The plan provides written information about adulthood services, including the Chafee foster youth program. It must explain extended foster care after 18 for youth completing secondary education or an equivalent-credential program. Before closing the case, the agency must supply specified personal records at age 18 or departure from care, whichever is later, if available or expected to be available. Records include a Social Security card and identity, health, and school records; youth 18 or older who remain in care can request health-record privacy.
Capped court charges for juvenile families
Juvenile courts can charge up to $35 in court costs and up to $500 in fines in covered cases. Probation fees in delinquency cases and service fees for families found in need of services each have a $20 monthly cap. Courts can assign allowed charges to the juvenile or responsible adults; charges are not automatic. Diversion fees also have a $20 monthly cap and require a financial affidavit and an ability-to-pay finding. Collected charges support juvenile funds and services, including diversion money deposited in the county treasury.
Juvenile escapes and order violations carry consequences
Escaping the locked part of a juvenile facility is an act of delinquency. Parents, guardians, custodians, and juveniles who violate juvenile court orders can face contempt sanctions; no specific sanction amount is set. Directors must release identifying information after unauthorized departures from covered youth services or local detention facilities involving offenses chargeable in adult court. Public information includes the juvenile's name, age, description, and details needed for apprehension and public safety. For State Hospital departures, disclosure requires commitment after an acquittal based on mental disease or defect for such an offense.
Limits on state services for families
Court-ordered DHS family services are limited to available community-based providers or contractors, excluding Division of Children and Family Services contractors. Families must apply and qualify for department services. For services meant to prevent removal, courts must explain in writing how each service helps keep the child home.
Parents can owe juvenile placement costs
Courts can order parents or guardians to pay commitment, detention, or electronic monitoring costs for a juvenile found delinquent. Liability is not automatic. Courts must consider ability to pay, prior efforts to correct conduct, and a noncustodial parent's opportunity to intervene. They must also consider other relevant factors; the law sets no payment amount.
Responsible adults must pay affordable child support
Juvenile courts must order support when a legally responsible person is able to contribute, based on findings at adjudication or disposition. The amount follows child-support guidelines and the family support chart. Payments go to the person, agency, or institution awarded custody. Legally responsible people must disclose employers and earnings; refusal can lead to contempt. Courts may change support orders upon a proper motion.
Some juvenile sex offenses require DNA collection
People adjudicated delinquent for rape, first- or second-degree sexual assault, or incest must provide a DNA sample.
Caregiver custody limits state financial help
After a court gives a caregiver custody of a child and siblings or step-siblings, DHS generally cannot provide board payments or other financial help. Caregivers can still apply for assistance programs and receive help if they qualify under those programs' guidelines. Courts cannot order equivalent board, adoption, or guardianship subsidies to prevent a custody change. Children cannot return to DHS custody while staying in that home, or move back there while in DHS custody. DHS remains responsible for carrying out the case goal.
Young adults face foster care discharge limits
DHS may seek discharge for adults over 18 who reentered extended foster care after more than 60 days of disengagement. This applies only when they also lack a workable plan to meet the program's requirements. DHS must ask the court to end jurisdiction when court oversight continues. Without court oversight, DHS may give notice and close the case.
Adoption goals trigger parental-rights filing deadlines
When a court sets adoption as the child's permanent-home goal, Human Services must petition to end parental rights. The petition must be filed within 30 days of that hearing. Filing the petition does not itself end parental rights.
Child placements require home checks and approval
Custody transfers to relatives or other people require a written home study and a court finding supporting the child's best interest. DHS or a licensed certified social worker must conduct the study. In-state studies must reach the requesting court within 30 working days, excluding criminal-check results, which follow when received. DHS may check household members age 16 or older; local police must provide requested information, and access is restricted. For infants, the child welfare director or designee must approve agency-selected, unrelated caregivers with strong positive ties to the infant or parent.
Children's probation capped but sometimes extended
Most juvenile probation orders last no more than two years; extended juvenile jurisdiction offenders are excluded. Before expiration, courts can add one year when necessary for the child's welfare or the public interest. Probation ends when the order expires or the court finds its purpose achieved.
Family lawyer payments support appointed counsel
Courts must review verified financial affidavits before ordering payment of reasonable appointed-lawyer fees and expenses. For a juvenile's representation, courts can require financially able juveniles or responsible adults to pay all or part. For appointed parent or custodian representation, courts must order payment when the adult can afford it. Collected money supports representation funds, including counsel for families unable to afford lawyers; unspent juvenile representation funds carry over. County payment of indigent parents' or custodians' trial-level costs can be ordered only when the representation fund is insufficient and state funds are exhausted.
Family treatment options bring participation duties
For children found dependent-neglected, courts can order family services, change custody, set case goals, or order drug court or available family treatment programs. Courts can require parents or guardians to attend available parenting training, meet a deadline, show completion, and pay its cost. Courts can also order juveniles, parents, or guardians to perform up to 160 hours of approved community service. Service must support rehabilitation or better care and supervision. Violating service or training orders can lead to contempt sanctions.
Home detention and written juvenile rules
Courts can order home detention with electronic monitoring; this provision sets no duration or monitoring fee. Supervision can require school attendance or high school equivalency progress, a curfew, and no alcohol or illegal drugs. Rules must be written, given to the juvenile, and explained to the juvenile and caregiver immediately after the disposition hearing. Probation officers must keep case histories and progress reports, limit disclosure to legal requirements or court directions, and report violations.
Juvenile commitments have limits and extensions
Juvenile courts cannot commit a child to the Division of Youth Services solely for criminal contempt. Commitments have no fixed stay length, but cannot extend beyond the juvenile's 21st birthday. Commitment orders last up to two years and can receive one-year extensions needed for the juvenile's welfare or public protection. The Division controls ordinary commitment stays and final release. Courts alone control release in extended juvenile jurisdiction cases and must release the youth when the greater weight of evidence shows no substantial public-safety threat. A detention facility cannot release a more serious offender instead of a less serious offender unless the committing judge orders it.
Juvenile diversion offers alternatives with conditions
Diversion offers an alternative to a formal delinquency or family-in-need-of-services case when the responsible official finds it best for the juvenile and community. Required parties must consent; the juvenile must admit involvement, understand the right to refuse, and enter a voluntary written agreement with counsel or caregiver consent if unrepresented. Validated assessments guide terms such as counseling, education, treatment, teen court, or restitution. Supervision or service referrals last no more than six months; other terms last no more than nine months. The juvenile and caregiver can end the agreement and request a formal case at any time.
Juvenile records face clearing and retention
The law replaces the old code's record-retention, clearing, and adult-record transfer provisions with recodified rules. Violent-felony records stay for 10 years after the last qualifying delinquency finding or specified adult plea or guilt finding, then can be cleared. Extended-jurisdiction records stay until the later of that 10-year period or the person's 21st birthday. Other juvenile records can be cleared earlier, and other delinquency records must be cleared at 21. When an extended-jurisdiction offender receives an adult sentence, the record moves to the adult-records clerk, receives a criminal docket number, and becomes an adult criminal record.
Juvenile records stay limited but usable
Police must photograph and fingerprint juveniles arrested for offenses classified as Class Y, A, or B felonies for adults. For other allegations, collection under this law is barred unless the juvenile is taken into custody for one of those offenses. Copies are limited to law enforcement, the Arkansas Crime Information Center, prosecutors, and juvenile courts. Prosecutors and courts can use those records at later adult sentencing when the juvenile offense could have been tried in adult court. The qualifying delinquency finding itself can also be considered at that sentencing. Other juvenile evidence, findings, and dispositions generally cannot be used against the juvenile in other proceedings, except later proceedings under the juvenile subchapter.
Paternity rules guide parents seeking custody
When paternity is not established, the biological mother is the natural guardian unless a court orders otherwise. The mother, putative father, child, or child-support office can bring an action to establish paternity or support. A father with court-established paternity can petition for custody in the county where the child lives. He must show fitness, responsibility through care and financial support, and that custody serves the child's best interest. The court decides based on whether the evidence makes those findings more likely than not.
Paternity testing rights and evidence rules
Either party can request testing in a paternity case; courts must order tests for the alleged father, mother, and child. No more than three court-appointed qualified professionals can conduct testing, and results are admissible. A probability of at least 95%, plus the mother's testimony about access during conception, establishes an initial case of paternity. The alleged father can rebut that evidence.
Safety checks shape children's custody placements
In family-service cases, courts can transfer custody when it serves the child's best interest. Placement with Human Services also requires removal to protect health and safety because of a caregiver's acts or omissions. Transfers to relatives or other individuals require a written home study by Human Services or an approved licensed social worker. Except in paternity cases, petition affidavits must include known, relevant facts about a noncustodial parent's fitness; Human Services must diligently identify potential parents, including checking the Putative Father Registry. Appointed custodians must provide care, protection, education, and training; they can arrange medical care, use custody orders for school enrollment and records, and, for agencies, approve vacation or similar travel.
Safety limits for children's new caregivers
Nonparent custody transfers require a written home study by DHS or an approved licensed social worker and a best-interest finding. Transfers to parents need no home study. Courts cannot give legal custody to one person or agency and physical custody to another. Caregivers awarded custody, guardianship, or adoption through dependency-neglect cases cannot return children to removed or court-barred caregivers without approval from the awarding court. Violations of the return restriction are punishable under state law.
Teens can seek independence at 17
A party in a qualifying juvenile case can seek emancipation for a teen age 17 or older. The teen must be willing to live separately, have suitable housing and legal income, and manage personal finances. The teen also needs health coverage or a realistic health plan and must agree to follow school-attendance laws. The court must find the requirements more likely met than not and emancipation in the teen's best interest. Emancipation grants legal independence and ends specified caregiver responsibilities, but preserves delinquency jurisdiction and marriage-consent requirements.
Teens face driving limits with exceptions
Courts can suspend a delinquent juvenile's driving privileges, but suspension is not automatic. Courts can authorize a restricted permit for work, school, or other reasons. A court ordering suspension must send the order to the Department of Finance and Administration within 24 hours after the delinquency finding and suspension sentence.
Unpaid juvenile debts get affordability review
Unpaid restitution, fines, or court costs can count as a juvenile's probation violation. The juvenile can show that nonpayment was not purposeful refusal or a failure to make good-faith efforts to find money. Before revoking probation, courts must consider employment, earning ability, resources, willfulness, and other factors affecting payment. For excusable nonpayment, courts can allow more time, lower installments, or cancel some or all unpaid debt.
Victims can recover juvenile-caused financial losses
Juvenile restitution covers actual financial losses directly caused by a delinquent act. Covered losses include medical and funeral bills, counseling, lost wages, and property repair or replacement. The law caps the first restitution judgment at $10,000 per victim; additional losses can be pursued under other law. Courts must consider ability to pay before penalizing nonpayment.
Voluntary diversion with family fee limits
Family-services diversion requires the child's admission and the prosecutor's best-interest decision after consulting intake. Written agreements must be voluntary, use validated assessments, and follow consent rules; children and caregivers must hear they can refuse. Services last at most six months, and other terms last at most nine months. A petition based on the original complaint can be filed only during the agreement period. Officers can charge up to $20 monthly only after reviewing a financial affidavit and finding the child or responsible adult can pay.
Vulnerable children face strict detention limits
Children in abuse, neglect, or family-in-need-of-services cases generally cannot be held in secure detention, delinquency facilities, or adult detention facilities. A processing exception allows only the minimum time needed for identification, release, or transfer arrangements. Children must be kept separate from juveniles held for delinquency. The limit is six hours when the contacted responsible person lives in Arkansas. It is 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, when that person lives out of state. A child already found to be in a family needing services can be detained for violating a valid court order, but must receive full due process rights.
Youth commitments and releases face limits
A low-risk youth found delinquent only for a misdemeanor cannot be committed to the Division of Youth Services. Risk must be determined by a validated assessment. Moderate- or high-risk misdemeanor-only youth can be committed only with specific court findings that commitment serves their best interest. Criminal contempt alone cannot justify commitment to the division. A detention facility cannot release a serious offender to make room for a less serious offender unless the committing judge orders it.
Youth court authority can reach 21
Arkansas circuit courts have exclusive original jurisdiction over delinquency proceedings involving youth ages 10 through 18. After a delinquency finding, the court can retain jurisdiction until 21 if the act occurred before age 18. Court authority cannot continue past age 21.
Kinship caregivers get help with limits
Children, including siblings and step-siblings, can stay with relatives or close family friends for up to six months while foster-home approval proceeds. Caregivers can receive otherwise available Transitional Employment Assistance, SNAP, child support, and federal benefits paid for the child. Provisional foster-home board payments are capped at six months unless the home becomes a regular foster home. Caregivers who choose provisional status cannot receive board payments until their home meets requirements and opens as a regular foster home. After six months without full licensing, DHS must remove the children and close the home, unless the court grants the caregiver custody within the law's limits.
Caregiving grandparents get a court voice
Qualifying grandparents receive notice and a chance to speak in a dependency-neglect case. They must have provided primary care and financial support while the child lived with them. For a child younger than 12 months, this requires six continuous months of residence before the child's first birthday. For an older child, it requires one continuous year. The qualifying custody period must have occurred within one year before the case began. A parent of a putative father does not qualify under this rule.
Children can receive trained volunteer advocates
Courts can appoint trained volunteer advocates in child abuse or neglect cases to support the child's best interest. Advocates must meet program standards, receive approval, and pass applicable criminal-background and child-abuse-registry checks. They can investigate, inform the court, monitor orders, and access relevant records within federal limits. They are not parties and cannot call or question witnesses. They cannot share confidential information unless a court orders disclosure or the law allows it.
Children get deadlines for permanent-home planning
Courts must hold a permanency planning hearing within 12 months after a child enters out-of-home placement. The law also requires a hearing after 15 of the previous 22 months in placement, excluding trial placements and runaway time. A hearing is due within 30 days after a hearing grants no reunification services. Planning hearings continue annually while the child remains in placement. For youth 16 or older, courts must ask about their wishes or receive evidence of those wishes from their appointed lawyer.
Courts must review earlier family contacts
Before finding that DHS reasonably tried to prevent removal, courts must receive evidence of all earlier DHS contact with the family. This requirement does not apply to emergency removals when DHS had no earlier contact with the child or family. The finding is void if the court determines that prior contact was not fully disclosed.
Families get timely juvenile court decisions
After a dependency-neglect petition is proven, the court must hold a disposition hearing at adjudication or within 14 days afterward. The written disposition order is due within 30 days after the hearing or before the next hearing, whichever comes first. Courts can assign a party or lawyer to file it. In delinquency, dependency-neglect, and family-service cases, ordered reports must reach parties and lawyers at least two days before disposition, with a fair chance to challenge them. At initial and later hearings, courts must favor the least restrictive outcome consistent with the child's and public's best interests and welfare.
Juveniles gain intake and trial protections
Intake officers must conduct a preliminary investigation after learning a juvenile is in custody on a delinquency allegation. Additional inquiries require consent from both the juvenile and a parent, guardian, or custodian. Intake conferences are voluntary, and participants must be told about the juvenile's rights to counsel and silence. Statements to intake or probation officers during intake before the merits hearing cannot be used against the juvenile or admitted in court. A juvenile found delinquent cannot later be tried criminally on the petition's facts. Likewise, a juvenile tried for a state crime cannot later face a delinquency case on those facts.
Limits on treatment orders for families
Courts can order family members' evaluations, counseling, or treatment only after finding them necessary for the child's treatment or rehabilitation. This protection does not apply to parental responsibility training.
No covered detention charges for families
Children and their parents, guardians, or custodians cannot be charged for covered detention, shelter, or electronic monitoring. The ban applies when a juvenile officer authorizes those measures under the law's specified custody provision.
Parental rights hearings have firm timelines
Courts must complete parental-rights termination hearings within 90 days after the petition is filed, unless good cause supports a written continuance. Extraordinary circumstances can extend the hearing deadline to 180 days from filing. Examples include suspended in-person court proceedings and declared national or statewide emergencies. After the hearing, courts must review the case at least every six months. A permanency-planning hearing is required each year until a lasting placement is achieved.
Parents get case record access decisions
Parents' or custodians' lawyers must receive relevant school, medical, court, and DHS records, including electronic and state reporting-system records. Access extends only to records the client can legally receive. When custody transfers to DHS, courts must decide parents' access to school records, placement details, and school meetings. Placement details can include caregiver names and addresses when school-record access is allowed; access is not automatic.
Service referrals for sexually exploited children
The Department of Human Services must develop a statewide referral process to coordinate help for sexually exploited children under 18. It covers trafficking victims and children engaged in prostitution or sexual solicitation. The law requires coordination but does not guarantee a specific service or payment.
Parents can face insurance disclosure orders
For privately insured youth in a youth services center or juvenile detention facility, courts can order parents or guardians to share coverage details. These details may include the insurance policy and pharmacy card, when available. The order is optional, and the law does not change insurance coverage or costs.
Adult jail holds limited for juveniles
Juveniles generally cannot be held in adult jails or lock-ups. Processing holds can last only as long as needed, up to six hours, with adults out of sight and hearing. Outside metropolitan statistical areas, an initial-appearance hold can last up to 24 hours, excluding weekends and holidays. That exception requires a qualifying criminal or handgun allegation, no acceptable alternative placement, and sight-and-sound separation from adults. One additional 24-hour period requires distance or transportation delays; separate exceptions cover felony cases placed under adult-court jurisdiction.
Detained youth get firm hearing deadlines
Youth held on delinquency, aftercare, probation, or court-order allegations must receive a detention hearing as soon as possible. The deadline is 72 hours after custody, or the next business day if it ends on a weekend or holiday. A youth not released by law enforcement or intake staff must be released if that deadline is missed. After a delinquency finding, youth detained while awaiting disposition must receive that hearing within 14 days of the adjudication hearing.
Exploited children get coordinated service referrals
Human Services must create a statewide referral process to coordinate services for sexually exploited children. It covers children under 18 who are victims of trafficking of persons or child sex trafficking. It also covers children under 18 who engage in prostitution or sexual solicitation.
Government juvenile filings avoid processing fees
Circuit clerks and sheriff's offices cannot charge filing, copying, faxing, or other covered fees in qualifying juvenile cases. The exemption applies to government or nonprofit filers, including qualifying family-in-need-of-services cases. It does not create a general fee exemption for households filing cases.
Local governments can share juvenile costs
Two or more counties, cities, or school districts can agree to share juvenile court staff or facility costs. They must enter a compact to do so. The law does not require an agreement or set a funding amount.
Secure detention limited for child welfare cases
Secure detention is generally barred for youth in dependency-neglect or family-in-need-of-services cases. Exceptions include a youth away from home over 24 hours whose contacted adult lives over 50 driving miles away or out of state. Another exception covers an adjudicated family-in-need-of-services youth who violates a valid court order. Processing and transfer holds must be as short as needed: at most six hours for in-state contacts or 24 hours for out-of-state contacts, excluding weekends and holidays. Applicable holds require separation from delinquency detainees and cannot occur in facilities used to jail adults.
Treatment plans and safeguards for committed youth
Courts cannot commit youth to the Division of Youth Services solely for criminal contempt. Courts may recommend treatment or community placement with supporting findings; the division must consider that recommendation. Courts must also say whether they request an aftercare plan. A written plan covering treatment, expected commitment length, later placement, community services, and aftercare is due within 30 days or before release, whichever comes first. The plan must be shared and explained; when maltreatment prevents returning home, DHS legal staff must petition the court to decide custody.
Family service payments depend on finances
When courts order family services, they must document whether the parent, guardian, or custodian can pay. If the adult can afford some or all of the cost, the court must set the amount in writing. Payments go directly to the provider, no more than once per month. The law sets no dollar amount; payment is limited to what the court finds the adult can afford.
Some families pay juvenile lawyer costs
Courts can require a juvenile, parent, guardian, or custodian to pay some or all reasonable costs of the juvenile's lawyer. The court must first review a verified financial affidavit and find that the person can pay. No fixed fee is set. Collections go into a juvenile representation fund for delinquency or family-service lawyers, and unused money carries into the next fiscal year.
Courts cannot direct children's benefit spending
When DHS is the payee for a child's Social Security benefits, a court cannot order DHS to spend or forward them. The law does not set a benefit amount or payment change.
Courts cannot direct DHS Social Security spending
Courts cannot order DHS to spend or forward a juvenile's Social Security benefits when DHS is the payee. This restriction does not state how DHS otherwise manages or spends the money.
School absences can bring family fines
Courts can fine a juvenile or caregiver up to $500 for exceeding the applicable unexcused-absence limit. The limit comes from the school or workforce-development attendance policy. Courts must assess caregivers' ability to pay and consider the required factors. Attendance programs or community service can replace the fine when practical and appropriate.
Certain youth gun offenses require confinement
Youth found delinquent for specified handgun possession, prohibited-weapons, or defaced-firearm offenses must receive a confinement placement. Allowed placements are juvenile detention, a youth services center, or residential detention. Courts may count detention time already served toward the disposition.
Courts face custody and provider limits
Courts cannot give legal custody to one person or agency and physical custody to another. Courts placing foster children cannot name a particular placement provider. When DHS pays for or provides placements or family services, courts generally cannot choose a specific provider; a family-services rule allows community-based providers. Courts can order placement or continued placement after considering the parties' evidence and finding it serves the child's best interest. Courts cannot order placement in a foster home that a placement agency has closed or suspended.
Families gain hearing access with privacy duties
Relatives, family-like caregivers, and family-connected people can attend child abuse or neglect hearings, including closed hearings. Lawmakers and the Child Welfare Ombudsman can also attend, but courts can exclude attendees for the child's best interest or under court rules. Courts must confirm family-connected attendees' identities; others need a finding of best interest and a sincere, legitimate need. Covered attendees generally cannot share hearing information; breaking the specified privacy rules is a Class C misdemeanor. For children in DHS custody, DHS must notify foster and preadoptive parents, while the original petitioner must notify relative caregivers. These caregivers can give evidence when called as witnesses, but notice and testimony alone do not make them parties, including while reunification remains the goal.
Family placement plans require measurable progress
At permanency hearings, courts must choose a long-term goal in the law's order of preference. Plans for custody with a parent, guardian, or custodian require compliance with court orders and the case plan. Courts must also find significant, measurable progress and a genuine, lasting commitment to completing requirements. Placement must fit the child's developmental needs and happen within three months of the hearing. Courts can allow more time for extraordinary circumstances when the plan remains in the child's best interest.
Family service orders require agency notice
When Human Services is not a party, courts must give notice before ordering it to provide or pay for family services. Written notice must be faxed to the department secretary and local agency lawyer at least five working days before the order. The agency must have a chance to be heard at a hearing. Without notice, the part of the order concerning the agency is void. This notice rule excludes community-based providers.
Juvenile custody requires notice and justification
After a juvenile enters custody on a delinquency allegation, intake officers must tell the responsible adult where the juvenile is held. They must also explain detention reasons if not already provided. Options include release, release with written promises or conditions, shelter care when the adult cannot be located, electronic monitoring, or detention. Officers must consider community ties and the alleged offense; detention requires a substantial number of listed facts weighing against release or a listed danger or flight basis. Flight-based detention is limited to fugitives or escapees from another jurisdiction. Harm-based detention must be necessary to prevent imminent bodily harm to the juvenile or another person.
Juvenile diversion offers dismissal with conditions
A petition based on a diverted complaint can be filed only while the diversion agreement is in effect. Following all proper and reasonable terms provides grounds to dismiss a petition filed during that period. Diversion can end if the juvenile or responsible adult stops participating, or the juvenile misses a conference without reasonable excuse. It can also end if the juvenile cannot or will not benefit, or new information shows diversion no longer serves the juvenile or society. A prosecutor in a delinquency case, or the petitioner in a family-services case, can then file a petition. Satisfactory completion requires dismissal without further proceedings and written notice to the juvenile and responsible adult. Courts can also remove the complaint, agreement, and references from the juvenile's file.
Juvenile records face collection and cleanup rules
Police must keep juvenile photos and fingerprints separate from adult files. Delinquency findings for offenses chargeable in adult court require submitted photos and fingerprints, plus court reporting to the Arkansas Crime Information Center. Courts must order arrest-record notations when a juvenile is found not to have committed the act. For Class Y, A, or B felony arrests without charges, prosecutors must report that fact and the center must remove the arrest records. Courts must expunge family-in-need-of-services records at age 21 and may destroy other juvenile records at any time.
Juvenile transfers get safeguards and added charges
After a transfer motion, courts must hold a hearing within 30 days if the juvenile is detained, or 90 days otherwise. Judges must consider the listed factors, make written findings on each, and require clear and convincing evidence for transfer. Any party can appeal, and existing bail or appearance bonds remain effective. After a juvenile-division hearing orders transfer, the State can add criminal charges in the same circuit court case. Added charges must arise from the same act or course of conduct.
Limits on prayer-only medical neglect orders
In medical-neglect cases involving religious treatment through prayer alone, court orders are limited to preventing or remedying serious harm. Orders can also prevent withholding medically needed treatment for a child with a life-threatening condition. This limit does not govern medical-neglect cases outside that prayer-only situation.
Parents and children face court-ordered testing
At a party's request, a juvenile court can order a mother, father, or child to undergo drug or alcohol testing. Testing can inform decisions about child safety. A party's refusal must be disclosed at trial and can be treated as civil contempt.
Placement limits when children's cases overlap
Converting a delinquency case to a family-in-need-of-services case cannot transfer the child's custody to DHS. For children already in DHS custody with both cases, placement decisions belong only in the family-services or dependency-neglect case. That rule excludes children committed to youth services or ordered to detention, the Civilian Student Training Program, or a delinquency-only facility.
Possible parents must establish court status
DHS must diligently identify possible parents in child abuse or neglect cases, including checking the Putative Father Registry. A named and served possible parent gets a chance to prove paternity or significant contact with the child. That person bears the burden of proof. Courts can determine parentage with or without DNA tests, but must test each person when multiple possible parents are identified. DNA establishing biological parentage is enough for a paternity decree and legal parent status. Courts add the person as a party when required findings are made; after notice and a hearing opportunity, they dismiss someone proving neither paternity nor significant contact and end further notice. Terminating an unconfirmed father's rights requires established significant contact and legally attached rights.
Prebirth orders can require mothers' repayment
Courts can hear evidence and issue temporary orders in paternity cases before the child is born. Those orders can provide temporary support or relief while the case continues. If the final order conflicts, the court must enter a repayment judgment against a biological mother who filed the case. The judgment covers amounts paid under the temporary order; the law sets no payment amount.
Youth probation can require school progress
Courts can make school attendance or progress toward an approved high school equivalency diploma a condition of juvenile probation. The equivalency diploma must be approved by the Adult Education Section. Courts can revoke probation for failing to attend regularly or make satisfactory progress, but only when the order includes that condition.
Abandonment rules cover infants and parental contact
An abandoned infant is under nine months old and left alone or with someone without identifying information. The definition also covers a caregiver's words, actions, or inaction showing intent not to return. Parental abandonment includes specified support or contact failures intended to continue indefinitely, failures without good cause, or stated intent to give up responsibility. A disrupted adoption is excluded when the adoptive parent has exhausted available resources.
Child welfare rules define care and danger
A dependent child includes one with an incarcerated, incapacitated, or deceased parent or guardian and no suitable relative or friend available. It also includes infants surrendered to DHS solely for adoption; incarceration tied to the child's welfare may instead support dependency-neglect. Caretakers include parents, guardians, custodians, foster parents, a parent's significant other, and entrusted caregivers age 14 or older. Aggravated circumstances include severe maltreatment, unlikely reunification despite services, or three or more removals from a parent or guardian in 15 months. Life-endangering abuse or neglect of the child or a sibling also qualifies.
Juvenile cases have specific filing rules
Only prosecutors can file juvenile delinquency petitions or petitions to revoke probation. A biological mother, possible father, juvenile, or the Office of Child Support Enforcement can file a petition to establish paternity.
Juvenile home-study rules are recodified
The law repeals the old code's home-study and household background-check provisions as part of recodification. The bill summary describes a 30-working-day deadline for presenting requested in-state home studies under the new code. It also describes department authority to obtain criminal background checks on household members age 16 or older. The repealed provisions addressed handling, sharing, and access to background information, plus law-enforcement responses. Their repeal alone does not establish that home studies or background checks end.
Juvenile privacy and school notices reorganized
The law repeals old juvenile-record confidentiality and school-notice provisions as part of replacing the juvenile code. The new code generally keeps juvenile records confidential, with defined disclosure exceptions. The repealed provisions covered access to arrest, detention, court, and investigation records and limits on schools' use of arrest information. They also covered prosecutor notices for listed delinquency findings. Old arrest notices required school notification within 24 hours or before the next school day for firearm, deadly-weapon, or first-degree battery arrests. The supplied details do not establish that all privacy protections or school-notice duties disappear.
Schools get safety information with privacy limits
Courts must send new, changed, or removed student safety plans and orders to the relevant superintendent and principal. Schools must keep them confidential, verbally inform only staff needed to carry out the plan, and destroy them when juvenile jurisdiction ends. Schools cannot release those record portions to the public, colleges, trade schools, or employers. Prosecutors must notify schools about specified serious findings, including adult-chargeable crimes, deadly-weapon offenses, and listed violent, sexual, or handgun offenses. Victims, next of kin, and schools serving the youth may receive dispositions upon written request, subject to privacy law.
Schools receive safety information with privacy limits
Courts must send contact-limiting or supervised-contact school safety plans, related orders, changes, and removal notices to relevant superintendents and principals. Schools must keep the information confidential, limit verbal notice to staff needed to carry out the plan, and keep it in permanent school records. Police must report arrests for unlawful firearm possession, deadly-weapon offenses, or first-degree battery within 24 hours or before the next school day, whichever is earlier. Superintendents must immediately notify principals, school resource officers, and officials with a legitimate educational interest. Arrest information stays confidential and can be used only for student services or school safety.
Youth court rules balance protections and penalties
Delinquency generally covers youth age 10 or older for adult-equivalent crimes, excluding traffic and game-and-fish offenses; specified handgun and school-employee cyberbullying violations also qualify. Murder charges also fall within the definition under extended juvenile jurisdiction. Cases generally stay in juvenile court for youth 15 or younger and for misdemeanors involving youth under 18; listed serious offenses create exceptions. Prosecutors may choose adult court for felony cases involving youth 16 or older or listed serious offenses involving 14- and 15-year-olds. Transfer or extended jurisdiction also reaches specified cases involving youth at least 14, including felony handgun cases or a new felony after three felony-equivalent findings within two years. Extended-jurisdiction youth get a jury-trial right, waivable only after legal advice and consultation through a document signed by youth and counsel; courts impose a juvenile disposition and suspend the adult sentence pending review.
Youth sex registration includes review protections
Screening and risk assessment are mandatory after findings of rape, first- or second-degree sexual assault, incest, or using children in sexually explicit visual or print material. Courts may also order assessment for other offenses with a sexual motive. Registration requires a committee recommendation, a hearing, and a lawyer. Unless removed, it lasts 10 years after the last qualifying juvenile finding or adult conviction, or until age 21, whichever is longer. Youth may seek removal while court jurisdiction continues or upon turning 21, whichever is later; courts must remove registration when evidence shows the youth poses no safety threat.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Carol Dalby
Republican • House
Missy Irvin
Republican • Senate
Cosponsors
Alyssa Brown
Republican • House
Breanne Davis
Republican • Senate
Sonia Eubanks Barker
Republican • House
Mary Bentley
Republican • House
Frances Cavenaugh
Republican • House
Cindy Crawford
Republican • House
Hope Duke
Republican • House
Dolly Henley
Republican • House
Jane English
Republican • Senate
Julie Mayberry
Republican • House
Karilyn Brown
Republican • House
Kendra Moore
Republican • House
Robin Lundstrum
Republican • House
Mindy McAlindon
Republican • House
Rebecca Burkes
Republican • House
DeAnn Vaught
Republican • House
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 4/3/2025
Senate Vote - Thursday, April 3, 2025 1:52:10 PM
Yes: 33 • No: 0
House vote • 3/31/2025
House Vote - Monday, March 31, 2025 4:09:12 PM
Yes: 96 • No: 0
Senate vote • 3/6/2025
Senate Vote - Thursday, March 6, 2025 3:36:31 PM
Yes: 32 • No: 0 • Other: 1
Actions Timeline
Notification that SB320 is now Act 518
4/10/2025SenateDELIVERED TO GOVERNOR.
4/4/2025SenateReported correctly enrolled and ordered delivered to the Governor.
4/4/2025SenateORDERED ENROLLED
4/3/2025SenateRead the third time and passed.
4/3/2025SenateRules suspended.
4/3/2025SenateHouse Amendment No. 1 read first time, rule suspended, read second time and concurred in.
4/3/2025SenatePlaced on second reading for purpose of amendment.
4/3/2025SenateReturned by the Committee with the recommendation that it Do Pass concur in House Amendment No. 1
4/2/2025SenateRe-referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE
3/31/2025SenateReturned from the House as passed as amended # 1 .
3/31/2025SenateReturned to Senate as passed, as amended # 1
3/31/2025HouseRead the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
3/31/2025HouseReturned by the Committee Do Pass
3/20/2025HouseREPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
3/19/2025HouseAmendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed.
3/19/2025HousePlaced on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
3/19/2025HouseRead the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on JUDICIARY COMMITTEE- HOUSE
3/6/2025HouseRECEIVED FROM THE SENATE
3/6/2025HouseOrdered immediately transmitted to the House.
3/6/2025SenateRead the third time and passed.
3/6/2025SenateReturned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
3/5/2025SenateRead first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to JUDICIARY COMMITTEE - SENATE
2/26/2025SenateFiled
2/26/2025Senate
Bill Text
SB320 - Introduced
2/26/2025
Act Version
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