2010 Tennessee Code
Title 37 - Juveniles
Chapter 1 - Juvenile Courts and Proceedings
Part 1 - General Provisions
37-1-132 - Unruly child Disposition.

37-1-132. Unruly child Disposition.

(a)  If the child is found to be an unruly child, the court may make such disposition as authorized by § 37-1-131(a)(1), (2), (5), or (7) that is best suited to such child's treatment. However, no child found to be an unruly child may be placed on probation under the supervision of the department, unless such child is found to also be a delinquent child or is found to have committed a violation of a valid court order as provided for in the Appendix to the Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure. No county government may be required to increase local funding to implement this provision. The court has the additional dispositional alternative of ordering the department to provide non-custodial services to a child found to be unruly.

(b)  (1)  If the court finds that it is in the best interest of the child and the public that any unruly child be removed from the home of a parent, guardian or other legal custodian, the placement of the child shall be with the person, agency or facility that presents the least drastic or restrictive alternative.

     (2)  If the court desires to commit an unruly child to the custody of the department of children's services, it shall, prior to ordering commitment, refer such child to the department's juvenile-family crisis intervention program under § 37-1-168. The court may commit the child to the department after such juvenile-family crisis intervention program certifies to the court that there is no other less drastic measure than court intervention. Nothing in this subdivision (b)(2) shall preclude placing a child in protective service custody.

     (3)  A disposition under this section shall, in no event, result in the child's detention in shelter care, as defined in § 37-1-116, or other temporary placement, without provision of necessary services consistent with the child's assessments or evaluations, in excess of thirty (30) days after entry of the court's order.

(c)  (1)  When the department determines that a child who has been committed to the department under this section is ready to return home, the department shall notify the court in writing of its intention to place the child at home on a trial home visit. If the court objects to the trial home visit, it must notify the department of its objection in writing or set a hearing within fifteen (15) days of the date of the notice with such hearing being held at the earliest possible date. If a hearing is not set nor a written objection received within fifteen (15) days of the date of the notice, the department may place the child on a trial home visit. The notice shall include the provision that the department's legal custody of the child shall terminate in thirty (30) days.

     (2)  If during the thirty-day period the department determines that the trial home visit is not in the child's best interest and removes the child on an emergency basis or seeks to remove the child on a non-emergency basis, the department shall file a motion for review by the court of the trial home visit and shall provide notice to the parent(s), guardian or other custodian. The court shall hold a hearing on such motion within three (3) days of an emergency removal and shall set a hearing within fifteen (15) days to be held at the earliest possible date if the motion seeks the court's permission to make a non-emergency removal.

     (3)  During the thirty-day trial home visit, the court may periodically review the child's status and may make any orders that the best interest of the child may require.

[Acts 1970, ch. 600, § 32; 1979, ch. 289, § 5; 1982, ch. 882, § 2; T.C.A., § 37-232; Acts 1985 (1st E.S.), ch. 6, § 1; 1996, ch. 1079, § 94; 1999, ch. 508, § 8; 2007, ch. 372, § 4.]