(1) The court that has jurisdiction of an adjudicated delinquent child may, by an order stating the facts upon which a determination of a sanction and rehabilitative program was made at the disposition hearing:

(a) Commit the child to a licensed child-caring agency willing to receive the child; however, the court may not commit the child to a jail or to a facility used primarily as a detention center or facility or shelter.
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 985.441

  • Adult: means any natural person other than a child. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Conditional release: means the care, treatment, help, supervision, and provision of transition-to-adulthood services provided to a juvenile released from a residential commitment program which is intended to promote rehabilitation and prevent recidivism. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Court: means the circuit court assigned to exercise jurisdiction under this chapter, unless otherwise expressly stated. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Department: means the Department of Juvenile Justice. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Detention center or facility: means a facility used pending court adjudication or disposition or execution of court order for the temporary care of a child alleged or found to have committed a violation of law. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Disposition hearing: means a hearing in which the court determines the most appropriate dispositional services in the least restrictive available setting provided for under part VII, in delinquency cases. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Licensed child-caring agency: means a person, society, association, or agency licensed by the Department of Children and Families to care for, receive, and board children. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Probation: means the legal status of probation created by law and court order in cases involving a child who has been found to have committed a delinquent act. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Restrictiveness level: means the level of programming and security provided by programs that service the supervision, custody, care, and treatment needs of committed children. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Shelter: means a place for the temporary care of a child who is alleged to be or who has been found to be delinquent. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • Substance abuse: means using, without medical reason, any psychoactive or mood-altering drug, including alcohol, in such a manner as to induce impairment resulting in dysfunctional social behavior. See Florida Statutes 985.03
  • 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
(b) Commit the child to the department at a restrictiveness level defined in s. 985.03. Such commitment must be for the purpose of exercising active control over the child, including, but not limited to, custody, care, training, monitoring for substance abuse, electronic monitoring, and treatment of the child and release of the child from residential commitment into the community in a postcommitment nonresidential conditional release program. If the child is not successful in the conditional release program, the department may use the transfer procedure under subsection (4).
(c) Commit the child to the department for placement in a program or facility for juvenile sexual offenders in accordance with s. 985.48, subject to specific appropriation for such a program or facility.

1. The child may only be committed for such placement pursuant to determination that the child is a juvenile sexual offender under the criteria specified in s. 985.475.
2. Any commitment of a juvenile sexual offender to a program or facility for juvenile sexual offenders must be for an indeterminate period of time, but the time may not exceed the maximum term of imprisonment that an adult may serve for the same offense.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the court having jurisdiction over an adjudicated delinquent child whose offense is a misdemeanor, or a child who is currently on probation for a misdemeanor, may not commit the child for any misdemeanor offense or any probation violation that is technical in nature and not a new violation of law at a restrictiveness level other than minimum-risk nonresidential. However, the court may commit such child to a nonsecure residential placement if:

(a) The child has previously been adjudicated or had adjudication withheld for a felony offense;
(b) The child has previously been adjudicated or had adjudication withheld for three or more misdemeanor offenses within the previous 18 months;
(c) The child is before the court for disposition for a violation of s. 800.03, s. 806.031, or s. 828.12; or
(d) The court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the protection of the public requires such placement or that the particular needs of the child would be best served by such placement. Such finding must be in writing.
(3) The nonconsent of the child to commitment or treatment in a substance abuse treatment program in no way precludes the court from ordering such commitment or treatment.
(4) The department may transfer a child, when necessary to appropriately administer the child’s commitment, from one facility or program to another facility or program operated, contracted, subcontracted, or designated by the department, including a postcommitment nonresidential conditional release program, except that the department may not transfer any child adjudicated solely for a misdemeanor to a residential program except as provided in subsection (2). The department shall notify the court that committed the child to the department and any attorney of record for the child, in writing, of its intent to transfer the child from a commitment facility or program to another facility or program of a higher or lower restrictiveness level. If the child is under the jurisdiction of a dependency court, the department shall also provide notice to the dependency court and the Department of Children and Families, and, if appointed, the Guardian Ad Litem Program and the child’s attorney ad litem. The court that committed the child may agree to the transfer or may set a hearing to review the transfer. If the court does not respond within 10 days after receipt of the notice, the transfer of the child shall be deemed granted.
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