Policy Text
JUVENILES
EFFECTIVE DATE: 08/01/89 STANDARD NO. 068 REVISED: 10/24/18
REPLACES: SOP Juveniles 10-01.1-15 – Rev. 01/01/03
OBJECTIVE: To provide criteria for the police officer to determine whether the juvenile should
be arrested initially and to define the criteria for detention of a juvenile offender
taken into custody.
POLICY: It is the policy of the Homestead Police Department (HPD), when dealing with
juveniles, to make use of the least coercive method among reasonable
alternatives and consistent with preserving public safety, order, and individual
liberty. When juveniles are taken into custody, this Department will attempt to
provide the protection afforded them under Chapter 39, Florida State Statutes.
SCOPE: All employees of this Department shall be governed by the procedures set forth
below.
I. DEFINITIONS:
A. Child or Juvenile or Youth: Any unmarried person under the age of 18 years who has not
been emancipated by order of the court.
B. Child found to be dependent: A child who is found by the court:
1. To have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by the child’s parent or parents,
legal custodians, or caregivers;
2. To have been surrendered to the Department of the former Department of Health
and Rehabilitative Services, the Department of Children and Families or a
licensed child-placing agency for purpose of adoption;
3. To have been voluntarily placed with a licensed child-caring agency, a licensed
child-placing agency, an adult relative, the Department of Children and Families,
after which placement, under the requirements of Chapter 39, a case plan has
expired and the parent or parents, legal custodians, or caregivers, have failed to
substantially comply with the requirements of the plan;
4. To have been voluntarily placed with a licensed child-placing agency for the
purposes of subsequent adoption, and a natural parent or parents have signed a
consent pursuant to the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure;
5. To have no parent, legal custodian, or responsible adult relative to provide
supervision and care; or
6. To be at substantial risk of imminent abuse, or neglect by the parent or parents,
or custodians.
Juveniles – SOP# 068
C. Child or juvenile (FS Chapter 985 Dependency): Any unmarried person under the age of
18 who has not been emancipated by order of the court and who has been found or
alleged to be dependent, in need of services, or from a family in need of services; or any
married or unmarried person who is charged with a violation of law occurring prior to the
time that person reached the age of 18 years.
D. Child found to have committed a delinquent act (FS Chapter 985): A child who, pursuant
to the provisions of Chapter 985, is found by a court to have committed a violation of law
or to be in direct or indirect contempt of court.
E. Child in need of services (FS Chapter 984 Children and Families in Need of Services):
Means a child for whom there is no pending investigation into an allegation or suspicion
of abuse, neglect, or abandonment; no pending referral alleging the child is delinquent;
or no current supervision by the Department of Juvenile Justice or the Department of
Children and Family Services for an adjudication of dependency or delinquency. The
child must also, pursuant to Chapter 954, be found by the court:
1. To have persistently run away from the child’s parents or legal custodians
despite reasonable efforts of the child, the parents or legal custodians, and
appropriate agencies to remedy the conditions contributing to the behavior.
Reasonable efforts shall include voluntary participation by the child’s parents or
legal custodians and the child in family mediation, services, and treatment
offered by the Department of Juvenile Justice or the Department of Children and
Family Services;