Working with Child Deprivation Cases in Georgia's Juvenile Courts

A. EVIDENCE

In the dispositional hearing, the court is authorized to receive "all information helpful in determining the questions presented" even if this information would not have been admissible during the adjudicatory hearing because of evidentiary problems such as hearsay. O.C.G.A. § 15-11-33(d). Attorneys for both the parents and the child are still entitled to examine any written reports submitted to the court prior to the dispositional hearing and to cross-examine any individuals making the reports. O.C.G.A. § 15-11-33(d). However, confidential sources of information need not be disclosed. O.C.G.A. § 15-11-33(d).

The judge may direct that a social study and report be made to the court concerning "the child, his family, his environment, and other matters." However, the court may not take this information into consideration until after the adjudicatory hearing finding that the child is deprived. These reports are only admissible for purposes of the child welfare decisions which must be made in the deprivation hearing. O.C.G.A. § 15-11-32(a). The Georgia Supreme Court has previously held that the admission of such a report prior to the conclusion of an adjudicatory hearing was more than a technical violation of the law but did not constitute grounds for reversible error. In the Interest of J.C. et al., 242 Ga. 737 (1978). The caseworker who wrote the report was a witness and available for cross examination and the appeals court assumed that the trial court did not consider any hearsay statements contained in the report. The court found that enough evidence outside of this report was submitted to the court to independently support the court's decision. Id., at 741. You should also remember that the judge in your jurisdiction may require that the 30-day case plan be completed and submitted to the court prior to the dispositional hearing; and, in fact, pursuant to O.C.G.A. 15-11-41(C) a written report must be submitted to the court within 30 days from the date of removal of a child from the home.

Dispositional hearings must be held in the county of the child's residence. C.L.A. et al. v. State of Georgia, 137 Ga. App. 511 (1976). When the same juvenile court judge presides over both the adjudicatory and dispositional hearings, it is not necessary to allow for another full scale evidentiary hearing on the evidence that has already been submitted to the court in the adjudicatory hearing. The judge does not need to allow for the repeated presentation of the same evidence in the dispositional hearing. D.C.A. et al. v. State of Georgia, 135 Ga. App. 234 (1975).