Dismissed Juvenile Dependency Cases in Family Court
| Publication year | 2019 |
| Author | John Nieman and Andrew Cain |
John Nieman and Andrew Cain
John Nieman, Esq., is a Dependency Advocacy Center Founder has been working in Santa Clara's County's dependency system as an attorney and supervising attorney for over 21 years. He has partnered and collaborated locally and statewide on numerous workgroups, committees, and task forces in areas such as Domestic Violence, drug courts, CASA, over representation of children of color, Model Courts, dependency mediations, and others. He served as faculty for National Counsel for Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Administrative Office of the Courts. Mr. Nieman holds an MS in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling, a School Counseling Credential, and worked for several years with children as a substitute teacher, sports coach, and represented youth in juvenile justice court prior to doing dependency work.
Andrew Cain is a Directing Attorney with Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (LACY), a program of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Child Abuse Prevention Council of Santa Clara County. He previously served as Chair of the State Bar of California, Family Law Section Executive Committee in 2013-14 (then as an Advisor to the California Lawyers Association's Family Law Executive Committee), and chaired the Northern California chapter of the National Association of Counsel for Children's legislation/policy work. Mr. Cain was recognized by the American Bar Association with its Child Advocacy Award in 2013.
When a juvenile dependency court terminates its jurisdiction over a minor child who had been adjudged a dependent of the court, it typically makes orders outlining physical and legal custody, as well as visitation as needed. While termination of active jurisdiction can involve finalizing an adoption or after establishment of a guardianship, we focus here on orders issued upon dismissal of the juvenile court's jurisdiction in cases where one or both parents have child custody.
In general, the juvenile court is required to dismiss a case whenever the significant current and future risk of harm has been eliminated. There are various hearings where it is either expected, or there is a significant possibility, that a dependency case will be dismissed when a child is in parental custody. Perhaps the most common is at a statutory six month review hearing held according to Welfare and Institutions Code section 364 after placement of a child with...
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