(1) Unless ordered by the court pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, or upon voluntary consent to placement by the child and the child’s parent, legal guardian, or custodian, a child taken into custody shall not be placed in a shelter prior to a court hearing unless a determination has been made that the provision of appropriate and available services will not eliminate the need for placement and that such placement is required:

(a) To provide an opportunity for the child and family to agree upon conditions for the child’s return home, when immediate placement in the home would result in a substantial likelihood that the child and family would not reach an agreement; or

Terms Used In Florida Statutes 984.14

  • assessment: means the gathering of information for the evaluation of a juvenile offender's or a child's physical, psychological, educational, vocational, and social condition and family environment as they relate to the child's need for rehabilitative and treatment services, including substance abuse treatment services, mental health services, developmental services, literacy services, medical services, family services, and other specialized services, as appropriate. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Child in need of services: means a child for whom there is no pending investigation into an allegation or suspicion of abuse, neglect, or abandonment; no pending referral alleging the child is delinquent; or no current supervision by the Department of Juvenile Justice or the Department of Children and Families for an adjudication of dependency or delinquency. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Department: means the Department of Juvenile Justice. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Family: means a collective body of persons, consisting of a child and a parent, guardian, adult custodian, or adult relative, in which:
    (a) The persons reside in the same house or living unit; or
    (b) The parent, guardian, adult custodian, or adult relative has a legal responsibility by blood, marriage, or court order to support or care for the child. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Family in need of services: means a family that has a child who is running away; who is persistently disobeying reasonable and lawful demands of the parent or legal custodian and is beyond the control of the parent or legal custodian; or who is habitually truant from school or engaging in other serious behaviors that place the child at risk of future abuse, neglect, or abandonment or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Judge: means the circuit judge exercising jurisdiction pursuant to this chapter. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Parent: means a woman who gives birth to a child and a man whose consent to the adoption of the child would be required under…. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Secure detention: means temporary custody of the child while the child is under the physical restriction of a detention center or facility pending adjudication, disposition, or placement. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Shelter: means a place for the temporary care of a child who is alleged to be or who has been found to be dependent, a child from a family in need of services, or a child in need of services, pending court disposition before or after adjudication or after execution of a court order. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Shelter hearing: means a hearing provided for under…. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • Taken into custody: means the status of a child immediately when temporary physical control over the child is attained by a person authorized by law, pending the child's release, detention, placement, or other disposition as authorized by law. See Florida Statutes 984.03
  • writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
  • youth: means any unmarried person under the age of 18 who has not been emancipated by order of the court and who has been found or alleged to be dependent, in need of services, or from a family in need of services; or any married or unmarried person who is charged with a violation of law occurring prior to the time that person reached the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 984.03
(b) Because a parent, custodian, or guardian is unavailable to take immediate custody of the child.
(2) If the department determines that placement in a shelter is necessary according to the provisions of subsection (1), the departmental representative shall authorize placement of the child in a shelter provided by the community specifically for runaways and troubled youth who are children in need of services or members of families in need of services and shall immediately notify the parents or legal custodians that the child was taken into custody.
(3) A child who is involuntarily placed in a shelter shall be given a shelter hearing within 24 hours after being taken into custody to determine whether shelter placement is required. The shelter petition filed with the court shall address each condition required to be determined in subsection (1).
(4) A child may not be held involuntarily in a shelter longer than 24 hours unless an order so directing is made by the court after a shelter hearing finding that placement in a shelter is necessary based on the criteria in subsection (1) and that the department has made reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of the child from the home.
(5) Except as provided under s. 984.225, a child in need of services or a child from a family in need of services may not be placed in a shelter for longer than 35 days.
(6) When any child is placed in a shelter pursuant to court order following a shelter hearing, the court shall order the natural or adoptive parents of such child, the natural father of such child born out of wedlock who has acknowledged his paternity in writing before the court, or the guardian of such child’s estate, if possessed of assets which under law may be disbursed for the care, support, and maintenance of the child, to pay, to the department, fees as established by the department. When the order affects the guardianship estate, a certified copy of the order shall be delivered to the judge having jurisdiction of the guardianship estate.
(7) A child who is adjudicated a child in need of services or alleged to be from a family in need of services or a child in need of services may not be placed in a secure detention facility or jail or any other commitment program for delinquent children under any circumstances.
(8) The court may order the placement of a child in need of services into a staff-secure facility for no longer than 5 days for the purpose of evaluation and assessment.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 984 Contents