§ 761 New hearing

Here's a plain English summary of this rule:

If a family court case involves a child abuse or neglect matter, the judge or someone acting on behalf of the person accused (the respondent) can ask for a new hearing. This applies to both the fact-finding hearing (where the court decides what actually happened) and the dispositional hearing (where the court decides what should happen next, like custody or services).

The court will only grant a new hearing if there's a good reason for it. This might happen if new evidence comes up, if something went wrong during the first hearing, or if fairness requires giving the case another look. The judge has the power to start this process on their own, even if nobody asks for it.

This rule gives people a safety net. If the first hearing wasn't fair or missed something important, there's a way to fix it and get another chance to have the case heard properly.