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Title
Rules and Forms | Appellate Procedure: Access to Juvenile Case Files in Appellate Court Proceedings (Action Required)
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Summary
Summary
Recent Judicial Council-sponsored legislation amended the statute governing access to records in a juvenile case. The statutory amendment provides that individuals who petitioned for, and by order of the juvenile court were granted access to, the juvenile case file are entitled to access those same records for purposes of appellate court proceedings in which they are parties. To implement that legislation, the Appellate Advisory Committee and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee now recommend amending the rules regarding confidentiality in juvenile court and appellate court proceedings, approving a new information sheet, and revising a number of forms used in juvenile dependency matters and subsequent appellate proceedings.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
The Appellate Advisory Committee and the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee recommend that the Judicial Council, effective September 1, 2020:
1. Amend rule 5.552 of the California Rules of Court to replace the terms "disclosure" and "disclosed" with "access to" and "released," to more accurately describe the juvenile court's action as permitting access to records in the juvenile case file rather than permitting
disclosure;
2. Amend rule 8.401 of the California Rules of Court to add new subdivision (b)(2) to implement the new statutory provision, add a new advisory committee comment for the new subdivision, add definitions to clarify terms, and make other changes to clarify the application of each paragraph;
3. Approve Information on Requesting Access to Records for Persons With a Limited Right to Appeal (form JV-291-INFO);
4. Revise the following forms to add a notice to potential parties in appellate proceedings who are not entitled to access records in the juvenile case file absent court order:
a. Relative Information (form ...
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