(A)(1)(a) As a means of correcting the socially harmful tendencies of a child committed to it, the department of youth services may require a child to participate in vocational, physical, and corrective training and activities, and the conduct and modes of life that seem best adapted to rehabilitate the child and fit the child for return to full liberty without danger to the public welfare.

Terms Used In Ohio Code 5139.07

  • Child: includes child by adoption. See Ohio Code 1.59
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Placement: means the conditional release of a child under the terms and conditions that are specified by the department of youth services. See Ohio Code 5139.01
  • Release: means the termination of a child's stay in an institution and the subsequent period during which the child returns to the community under the terms and conditions of supervised release. See Ohio Code 5139.01
  • Secure facility: means any facility that is designed and operated to ensure that all of its entrances and exits are under the exclusive control of its staff and to ensure that, because of that exclusive control, no child who has been institutionalized in the facility may leave the facility without permission or supervision. See Ohio Code 5139.01

(b) Except as otherwise provided, the department shall require any child committed to it who has not attained a diploma or certificate of high school equivalence, to participate in courses leading toward a high school diploma or an Ohio certificate of high school equivalence. This requirement does not apply to a child in an assessment program or treatment intervention program prescribed by the department.

(c) The department may monetarily compensate the child for the activities described in this section by transferring the wages of the child for those activities to the appropriate youth benefit fund created under section 5139.86 of the Revised Code.

(d) This section does not permit the department to release a child committed to it from institutional care or institutional care in a secure facility, whichever is applicable, other than in accordance with sections 2152.22, 5139.06, 5139.38, and 5139.50 to 5139.54 of the Revised Code.

(2) The failure of the department of youth services to provide, pursuant to division (A)(1) of this section, an opportunity for any child committed to it to participate in courses that lead to a high school diploma or an Ohio certificate of high school equivalence, does not give rise to a claim for damages against the department.

(B) The department may require a child committed to it to return to the child’s home or to be placed in a foster care placement if it is authorized to make a placement of that nature under sections 2152.22, 5139.06, 5139.38, and 5139.50 to 5139.54 of the Revised Code. Any placement of that nature shall be made in accordance with those sections. The legal residence of a child so placed by the department is the place in which the child is residing in accordance with a department order of placement. The school district responsible for payment of tuition on behalf of the child so placed shall be determined pursuant to section 3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code.

The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.