Rule Text
With the approval of the petitioner and the department, if a child is in the custody of the department, a parent whose child is the subject of pending proceedings may, with or without admitting the allegations of the petition, stipulate that the child is in need of care according to Article 606, provided that:
(1) A prehearing conference has been convened in accordance with Article 646.1.
(2) The parent personally appears before the court.
(3) The court fully informs the parent of his rights as required by Article 625.
(4) The court fully informs the parent of the consequences of such a stipulation, including the parent's responsibility to comply with the case plan and correct the conditions requiring the child to be in care.
(5) The parent knowingly and voluntarily consents to the judgment.
Amendment history: Acts 1991, No. 235, §6, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1992, No. 705, §1, eff. July 6, 1992; Acts 1999, No. 449, §1, eff. July 1, 1999.
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
Here's a plain-English summary of this rule:
If a child is in the state's custody because of a pending court case, a parent can agree that the child needs care and protection without necessarily admitting to everything written in the petition against them. This is called a stipulation. But before a parent can do this, certain things have to happen first.
The petitioner (usually the state) and the department handling the child's care both have to approve this agreement. A meeting called a prehearing conference must happen first. The parent also has to show up in court in person, not through a lawyer alone. The judge must explain the parent's legal rights and make sure the parent understands what they're agreeing to, including the fact that they'll need to follow a case plan and fix the problems that led to the child being taken into care.
Finally, the parent has to agree to this outcome on their own, with full understanding of what it means. The court cannot accept this agreement unless the parent truly understands the consequences and freely chooses to accept them. This process gives parents a way to move the case forward without a full trial, while still making sure they know what they're signing up for and what's expected of them going forward.
