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DETENTION REHEARING (WIC 321) A Detention Hearing may be held when the parents did not have notice of the dependency hearings and were not there. Once an affidavit is filed with the court asserting lack of notice, the hearing needs…

What is a De Facto Parent? A de facto parent is a person found by the court to have assumed the role of a parent to the child. This means that the person has been fulfilling all the child’s needs…

DISPOSITIONAL HEARINGS (WIC 358, 360, 361, 361.2, 361.5) These hearings are only after the court makes jurisdictional findings.  Once the court finds any of the allegations true, this hearing is held to determine what to do with the child and…

INITIAL PETITION HEARING OR DETENTION HEARING (WIC 319) An initial Petition Hearing, or a Detention Hearing, is a hearing to determine whether a child is temporarily removed from the home of one or both parents. The hearing is required to…

JURISDICTIONAL HEARINGS (WIC 300) A Jurisdictional Hearing is when the court determines whether any of the allegations in the petition are true. A “no time waiver” case is heard fifteen court (or judicial) days after the day of the detention…