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The Shiawassee County Prosecutor handles child protection and delinquency matters before the Circuit Court Family Division, and its referee. This includes felony and misdemeanor offenses, as well as status offenses like truancy, being a runaway, and being an incorrigible youth. The APAs assist the Shiawassee Regional Educational Service District office with truancy matters that require formal court intervention.

In child protection matters, the Family Court APAs acts as the lawyer for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) at all stages of civil child protective proceedings. These proceedings protect both children and families from abuse and neglect. Petitions may seek to terminate parental rights where the abuse or neglect is serious and/or longstanding.

APAs in the Family Court Unit also attend Probate Court proceedings for involuntary mental health hospitalization.

Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile Justice

The Juvenile Justice system is separate and distinct from the adult criminal justice system. It is essentially a civil process with a treatment component designed for quick, targeted intervention as the best approach to changing behavior of young offenders. In Michigan, as in all states, the primary goal of the Juvenile Justice System is rehabilitation, usually achieved through probation oversight, intensive counseling, education and guidance. Punishment is not a factor, unlike adult criminal prosecution. This focus encompasses not only a desire to decrease recidivism, but to encourage our youth to make better choices, to avoid criminal or delinquent behavior, and to become productive members of society. Paramount in our handling of delinquency cases are considerations for public safety, upholding community values and standards, and protecting the interests of victims.

Terms of Art

Delinquency cases used different labels than adult criminal cases. The person charged is called a Respondent, not a defendant. Charges are Offenses, not crimes. A respondent is Adjudicated, not convicted. After an adjudication, a judge imposes orders against a respondent at a Disposition hearing, not a sentencing.

Process

As with adult cases, a prosecutor authorizes a delinquency petition only after a thorough police investigation. If a petition is authorized, the first hearing is a Preliminary Inquiry, similar to an adult court arraignment, where the minor is told what offenses have been issued; a court-appointed attorney may be requested; a decision on diverting the case through the Consent Calendar process is discussed; or a guilty plea can be entered. If a plea is not entered, the case will be scheduled for a pre-trial conference. If the case is not resolved at this hearing, a jury or judge trial will be scheduled. If the minor is adjudicated (convicted) through a plea or trial verdict, a disposition (sentencing) hearing will be held after the probation department has investigated the youth’s needs. The disposition hearing typically results in the youth being placed on probation, and lives at home. If the youth is removed from the parent’s care, review hearings will be held in court to monitor the youth’s progress and whether continued out-of-home placement is needed.

Informal Docket / Consent Calendar

The prosecutor may agree to divert a formal delinquency prosecution through Consent Calendar probation. This is common for first-time misdemeanor offense cases, but is an option for almost any offense. A probation order tailored to the youth’s needs is agreed to by the youth and parents, prosecutor and court. If the youth successfully completes this informal probation, the case is dismissed. If Consent Calendar is revoked — usually due to probation violations or new offenses being issued — the case moved to the Formal Calendar where a trial is scheduled on the original charges, or a guilty plea is entered, followed by a Disposition hearing.

Disposition Hearing Options

Judges have wide latitude to impose terms that are focused on the youth’s individual rehabilitation needs. The label or level of the adjudicated offense does not affect the judge’s options. Typically, the youth is allowed to live at home while completing a probation period overseen by a probation officer, and must complete programs like counseling, drug/alcohol testing, community services, etc. In most cases, probation is completed in 6-9 months, but by law the court can keep a delinquent youth under court order until their 19th birthday, regardless of how old they were when the case began.

If placement in the community (even with restrictions like tether) will not protect society from continued violations of law or protect the youth from harmful acts, the court may order more restrictive placement. Eaton County is fortunate to have an array of local programs hosted at our Youth Facility in Charlotte, including Day Treatment, Community Based Treatment, and Residential Treatment, the latter being the most-restrictive option. Each program involves on-site schooling and counseling, and is completed only when the youth has earned a specified unit of program days. Probation oversight continues while the youth transitions back into the community.

Prosecutor’s Role

The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office determines not just whether to issue against the youth, and what offenses or charges, but also in rare and serious cases whether the youth should be prosecuted as an adult due to felonious conduct.

1. Delinquency prosecution: Prosecutors issue delinquency petitions against persons under 17 years of age who have committed an illegal act which, if committed by an adult, would be considered a criminal offense, such as a felony, misdemeanor, or ordinance offense.
2. Status offenses: Prosecutors issue petitions in Family Court against minors who have committed offenses which are only illegal due to the offender’s age. Examples of status offenses include truancy, running away from home, and incorrigibility.
3. Designation Proceedings: Prosecutors may issue petitions in Family Court that “designate” a specified felony offense, which results in an adult conviction, not a delinquency adjudication. The judge has a range of options to either impose a juvenile-type disposition plan focused on rehabilitation and not punishment; or to impose a ‘blended sentence’ that delays the case with probation-like terms to give the youth a chance to prove his ability to be rehabilitated; or to impose a purely adult sentence, which may include county jail or state prison incarceration. Specified felonies include First or Second Degree Murder, Attempted Murder, Assault With Intent to Commit Murder, Assault with Intent to Maim, Assault With Intent to Rob While Armed, Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree, Carjacking, Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, or Arson First Degree.
4. Automatic Waiver (Prosecution as Adult): Prosecutors may file criminal charges directly in adult court against youths aged 14 to 16 who committed a “specified felony.” All proceedings are held in the District and Circuit Court Criminal Division, not the Family Court, and the process unfolds the same as an adult crime. Convictions are “adult convictions”. Sentences on “specified felonies” must be imposed as if the youth was an adult defendant; but sentences for other felony crimes can be imposed like a juvenile disposition plan with periodic reviews to determine if the youth’s failure to be rehabilitated makes the case appropriate to be imposed like an adult sentence, including county jail or state prison incarceration.

Child Protection Proceedings

A child protection proceeding is a civil case that is initiated in the Circuit Court Family Division seeking protection of the child rather than seeking the punishment of a parent or guardian.  It is the purpose of the Juvenile Code, which governs child protection proceedings, to protect children from unfit homes or environments.  Such a proceeding may be initiated by anyone who has information that a child is in need of the court’s protection.

If you believe that a child’s caregiver has committed an act of child abuse or child neglect, please report the suspected abuse or neglect to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services by contacting Michigan’s Centralized Intake center at (855) 444-3911.

Overview of Child Protective Proceedings

A child protection proceeding follows several key steps, depending upon the facts underlying the case.

1.  The ORDER TO TAKE AND PLACE.  If the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services believes that a child’s welfare is in imminent danger due to a threat posed by a custodial parent, the Department may request that the court issue an Order to Take and Place the child into protective custody.  Such an order may be issued any time, day or night, based upon the needs of the child.  If the court issues an order to take and place the child, the parent has the right to contest the order within 24 hours of the removal of the child from their care.  The Department must file a Petition prior to the preliminary hearing that will be scheduled within 24 hours.

2.  The PETITION.  If there is no emergency removal of a child, the Petition is the first step in the child protection proceeding.  If an emergency removal has been authorized by the court, then the petition is the second step in the proceeding.  A petition is filed, typically by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, although there are other individuals authorized to file child protective petitions.  The petition will set out the facts and legal basis that the petitioner believes support the trial court taking jurisdiction over the child so that the court may protect the child.

3.  The PRELIMINARY HEARING or PRETRIAL CONFERENCE.  If the court has authorized an emergency removal of the minor child from a parent’s care, the court will need to hold a preliminary hearing to determine whether it is contrary to the welfare of the minor child for the minor child to be returned to the care of that parent and what reasonable efforts were extended by the State to prevent the removal.  The preliminary hearing will be held within 24 hours of the child’s removal from the parent’s care.  If no removal is sought, but the petitioner simply believes that the court needs to be involved to protect the child, there will not be a preliminary hearing; instead the court will schedule a pretrial conference prior to the adjudication trial.

4.  The ADJUDICATION TRIAL.  The petitioner bears the burden of proof by preponderance of the evidence at an adjudication trial to show that one or more facts as alleged in the petition that was filed are true and that as a result the court should take jurisdiction over the child.  The parent may request that the case be tried as a bench trial (before the judge) or as a jury trial.  If the judge or the jury determines that the petitioner has proved one or more facts and that jurisdiction should be taken, the trial court will then enter into disposition.  Alternatively, a parent may tender a plea of no contest or of responsibility to the petition, which will subject the parent and the child’s to the court’s jurisdiction.

5.  The DISPOSITIONAL PHASE.  Once a parent has been adjudicated responsible for child abuse or child neglect under a child protection petition, the court determines what disposition to enter into for that parent and child.  In the most severe cases, the court may order that a parent’s parental rights to the child be terminated at the initial disposition.  This, however, is reserved for cases where the parent posed a very high risk of injury or death to the child, or where the parent perpetrated a serious violent or sexual assault against the child.  In all other cases, the court will order that the parents participate in a treatment program in order to improve their parenting skills with the goal of reunifying the child with the parent. 

If the court enters a order for the parent to participate in a treatment program, but the parent is unsuccessful, the petitioner may file a supplemental petition in the case asking the trial court to terminate the parent’s parental rights to the child.  The parent does not have the right to demand a jury trial on such a supplemental petition because under Michigan law, such a petition is merely an extension of the trial court’s initial dispositional order.

If the parent succeeds in participating in their treatment plan and the barriers to reunification are removed, the trial court will order the child to be returned home.

6. The STATUTORY REVIEW HEARINGS and PERMANENCY PLANNING HEARINGS.  If the Family Court did not terminate a parent’s parental rights to their child at the initial dispositional hearing in the case, the court must hold a statutory review hearing every 90 days to determine the parent’s progress with their treatment plan and determine the child’s wellbeing in foster care.  Additionally, at least every 12 months the court needs to review what it has determined to be the child’s permanency goal at a permanency planning hearing.  If the court does not believe that the parent is making satisfactory progress toward their treatment goals, the trial court may order that the petitioner file a supplemental petition asking for termination of the parent’s parental rights over the child.