§ 310.1 Originating a juvenile delinquency proceeding

A juvenile delinquency case in family court starts when a formal document called a petition gets filed. Without this petition, there is no case.

Only a specific government office, called a presentment agency, has the power to file this petition and start the case. This is usually a county attorney's office or a similar agency that handles these cases. A private person, like a parent or a school, cannot file this petition themselves even if they want a child to be charged.

If the probation department sends the presentment agency notice about a case, the agency has 30 days to decide whether to file a petition. If 30 days pass and the agency has not filed anything, they must send a written notice to the person who originally made the complaint. This tells the complainant that no case is being started against the young person involved.