Title 14, Title 14 and Dependent Children

(a) The petition shall plainly state the facts which bring the child within the provisions of this chapter, and shall set forth the name, age, and residence of: (1) The child; (2) The child’s parents; (3) The child’s other legal guardian, if there is one; (4) The person or person…

Any complaint brought before the family court under the provisions of title 40.1 shall be brought by the person and in the manner set forth by title 40.1.

Any petition for the adoption of any person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be brought before the family court in the manner set forth in chapter 7 of title 15.

The family court is vested with authority to issue a warrant for any offense by any person as set forth in §§ 11-9-1 — 11-9-8 and chapter 9 of title 15.

Upon the filing of a petition, the justice, if satisfied that there is reasonable cause for the petition, may issue a summons requiring the child to appear before the court at a time and place named in it, and shall also cause a summons to be issued to at least one of the parents…

The summons shall require the person upon whom it is served to appear before the court at a time and place stated in it for a hearing on the petition, the allegations of which shall be set forth in the summons, and the summons shall be served by reading it to, and leaving a copy …

All summonses, warrants, orders, and other processes issued by the court shall run throughout the state and may be served by any officer authorized to serve the warrants of district courts or by any probation counselor, or by any officer of any private agency, society, or institu…

Any parent, guardian, lawful custodian, or other person having the care and control of a child, who shall willfully refuse or neglect to appear in court in accordance with any summons served upon him or her may be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) or be imprisoned no…

The purpose of this chapter is: (1) To secure for each child under its jurisdiction the care, guidance, and control, preferably in his or her own home, that will serve the child’s welfare and the best interests of the state; (2) To conserve and strengthen the child’s family ties …

Whenever any officer takes a child into custody, he or she shall, unless it is impracticable or has been otherwise ordered by the court, accept the written promise of the parent, guardian, or other custodian of the child to bring the child to the court at the time fixed. Upon tha…

In the case of any child whose custody has been assumed by the court, the child may, pending the final disposition of the case, be released in the custody of a parent, guardian, or other custodian, or of a probation counselor or other person appointed by the court, to be brought …

Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as forbidding any police officer or probation counselor from immediately taking into custody any child who is found violating any law or ordinance, or whose surroundings are such as to endanger his health, morals, or welfare, u…

The board of police commissioners or other corresponding police authority of each city and town, and the city council of each city and town council of each town where no board of police commissioners or other corresponding police authority, exists, may provide and maintain, in th…

Whenever a girl is detained, she may be placed in the care of a police matron, and in the case of a city or town, the police matron may be one of those required to be appointed under the provisions of chapter 5 of title 13; and the board of police commissioners of any city or tow…

Any officer authorized to make an arrest for any criminal offense may take into custody without a warrant any child believed to be delinquent or wayward within that officer’s jurisdiction, but in no case shall a child be detained in custody longer than twenty-four (24) hours with…

In case a delinquent or wayward child is taken into custody or detained before or after the filing of a petition, or pending a hearing on the petition, the child shall not be confined in any prison, jail, lockup, or reformatory, or be transported with, or compelled or permitted t…

A juvenile taken into custody at a state, municipal, or college police department for an offense that would not be classified as criminal if committed by an adult, or non-offender juveniles, such as dependent or neglected children, shall be held for identification, investigation,…

(a) Subject to § 14-1-11, provision may be made by the family court for the temporary detention of children at the training school for youth or in the custody of the director of the department of children, youth and families. The court may authorize the temporary placement of chi…

If, during the pendency of a criminal or quasi-criminal charge against any person in any other court it shall be ascertained that the person was under the age of eighteen (18) years at the time of committing the alleged offense, it shall be the duty of the court to immediately tr…

The court shall designate suitable times and places for the hearing of all matters arising within its jurisdiction and may sit at any other times and places within the state that the court may seem best adapted to the carrying out of the purposes of this chapter. Hearings under t…

The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as follows: (1) “Adult” means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older. (2) “Appropriate person,” as used in §§ 14-1-10 and 14-1-11, except in matters relating…

In the hearing of any case, the general public shall be excluded; only an attorney or attorneys, selected by the parents or guardian of a child to represent the child, may attend, and only those other persons shall be admitted who have a direct interest in the case, and as the ju…

In the hearing of any case in which a child is alleged to be delinquent or wayward, if a person refuses to answer a question or produce other evidence of any kind on the ground that he or she may be incriminated by it, or if a child refuses to answer a question or produce other e…

The department of children, youth and families shall provide notice to foster parents, pre-adoptive parents or relatives providing care for a child of any review or hearing to be held with respect to a child in the care of the department. The foster parents, pre-adoptive parents …

Prior to the commencement of any hearing, the justice shall advise the parent or guardian of any child, or the adult involved, as the case may be, that if he or she is financially unable to engage counsel, he or she is entitled to the services of the public defender. The public d…

If the court finds that a child is delinquent, wayward, neglected, dependent, or otherwise within the provisions of this chapter, it may by order duly entered proceed as follows: (1) The court may place the child on probation or under supervision in his or her own home or in the …

(a) If a judge of the family court finds that a child is delinquent, wayward, or otherwise within the provisions of this chapter, and places the child on probation, he or she shall, where appropriate, require the child to compensate the victim for losses due to the act of the chi…

The family court shall be responsible for the administration of the restitution program, shall oversee and coordinate all local community based juvenile restitution programs, and shall process and make all payments to children who are required to perform community restitution in …

The general assembly shall appropriate one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) for support and maintenance of the pilot juvenile restitution program; and the state controller is authorized and directed to draw his or her orders upon the general treasurer for the payment of …

If the court finds that a child is delinquent or wayward for any violation of the Rhode Island Controlled Substances Act, chapter 28 of title 21, the court may order the child, his or her parent(s), guardian(s), and/or other lawful custodian(s) to participate in a program of coun…

(a) Whenever the court places a child on probation, the court may do so upon any terms and conditions, not inconsistent with law, that the court may deem best for the welfare of the child, but unless otherwise ordered by the court, a probation counselor may make any arrangements …

(a) If, after a hearing on any petition, a child shall be found to be dependent or neglected within the meaning of this chapter, the court shall by decree assign the custody of the child to the director of children, youth and families, for any period that shall seem fit to the co…

In the event that the court shall award a dependent or neglected child to the custody of the department of children, youth, and families, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the child shall, unless otherwise ordered, become a ward and be subject to the guardianship…

(a) Subject to the provisions of § 14-1-35, the office of the child advocate shall be the guardian of the estate of any child for whose benefit a judgment for compensation or order approving a settlement for compensation is entered by the court pursuant to the provisions of § 12-…

(a) In all proceedings under this chapter, the court may order a delinquent or wayward child to be committed to the training school for youth for a sentence no longer than the youth’s nineteenth birthday. However, nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit t…

(a) No child sentenced to the training school for youth, after being found delinquent or wayward, shall be released prior to the end of his or her sentence unless authorized by a justice of the family court, after a hearing with due notice to the parties to the petition upon whic…

In the event the court assigns custody of a child to the director of the department of children, youth and families pursuant to §§ 14-1-11, 14-1-11.1, 14-1-27, 14-1-32, 14-1-34, 14-1-36, 14-1-36.1, 40-11-7.1, or 40-11-12, the court shall authorize the provision of suitable treatm…

(a) The family court may authorize that a sentenced youth or a youth who is subject to an order of detention to the Thomas C. Slater training school be placed in the community in an appropriate setting as specified in §§ 14-1-27 and 14-1-32 for a period of time as determined by t…

The court may make any further disposition that it may deem to be for the best interests of the child, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

If, after a hearing on any petition in the case of a wayward or delinquent child under this chapter, the court finds that there is not sufficient evidence to support it, the court shall adjudge the child to be not a delinquent or wayward child, as the case may be, and shall disch…

A fee of one dollar ($1.00), and an allowance of ten cents ($0.10) per mile traveled with any child may be paid to the person designated to deliver any child to a public or private institution, agency, or society, or to bring any child from a public or private institution, agency…

Every child who has completed sixteen (16) years of life and has not completed eighteen (18) years of life and who habitually spends his or her time in idleness without just and sufficient reason or cause, or in frequenting poolrooms, places where intoxicating liquors are sold, g…

(a) No adjudication upon the status of any child in the jurisdiction of the court shall operate to impose any of the civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from a conviction, nor shall any child be deemed a criminal by reason of that adjudication, nor shall that adjudication be …

In placing a child under the guardianship or custody of a private agency, society, or institution, the court may when practicable select an agency, society, or institution governed by persons of like religious faith of the parents of the child, or in case of a difference in the r…

(a) An order of commitment made by the court in the case of a child shall be subject to modification or revocation from time to time. (b) A parent, guardian, or next friend of a child or counsel for a child who has been committed or assigned by the court to the custody of the dep…

(a) The order and decree shall be regarded as a judgment for debt on which suits may be brought or executions may issue for amounts due and unpaid, from time to time, to be shown by affidavits of the custodian of the child entitled to those amounts and the attorney of record, if …