Hearings
This hearing follows an emergent removal of the child or children within two business days.
What is a Dodd hearing (Order to Show Cause)?
This is the attorney for the Division.
Who is the Deputy Attorney General?
This docket type coincides with a plan of reunification.
What is FN?
This plan provides willing resource parents an alternative to adoption, without terminating parental rights.
What is Kinship Legal Guardianship?
This person approves/denies the permanency plan.
Who is the judge?
This hearing happens approximately 12 months after removal.
What is a permanency hearing?
This is the child's attorney.
Who is the Law Guardian?
This docket type means that the Division is seeking guardianship.
What is FG?
This action may be taken by parents to ask a higher court to reconsider a decision to terminate parental rights.
What is an appeal?
This is the presumed permanency plan until the first permanency hearing occurs.
What is reunification?
This hearing determines whether the child has been abused and/or neglected.
What is a Fact-Finding Hearing?
This type of hearing is the one the child is most likely to attend.
What is a Permanency Hearing?
This docket type is individually assigned to each child and only used after parents' rights have been terminated or the youth reaches age 18.
What is FC?
This is when a parent voluntarily relinquishes their parental rights to a named individual(s).
What is an Identified Surrender?
This is how often a Permanency Hearing should be held.
What is every 12 months?
What is a Case Management Hearing?
When a case is in the FG docket, this is the type of caseworker present at court on behalf of the Division.
This docket is used very briefly when the KLG is finalized.
This is the burden of proof required to terminate parental rights.
What is clear and convincing evidence?
This is the minimum age for a youth to have Independent Living as their permanency plan.
What is age 16?
This hearing is a streamlined version of a TPR trial for when a parent is missing or unresponsive.
What is a Proof Hearing?
These two types of participants in court hearings no longer have a seat at the table when the case goes to FC.
Who are the parents and their attorneys?
This docket is very briefly used when an adoption is finalized.
What is FA?
This is the form, regarding financial status, must be completed by a defendant to acquire representation by a Public Defender.
What is a 5A application?
This plan doesn't actually sever a parents' rights. Instead, it only suggests the State's intention and plan to do so.
What is Termination of Parental Rights followed by Adoption?