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Speak Up! - View Question #183 |
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Question: If I was charged with being an Incorrigible child would I be forced to move back home?
Answer: Arizona Law (A.R.S. § 8-201(15)) defines an incorrigible child as someone who:
- is determined by the courts to be a child who refuses to obey the reasonable and proper orders or directions of a parent, guardian or custodian, and who is beyond the control of that person;
- routinely or habitually skips school;
- is a runaway from the child's home or parent, guardian or custodian;
- routinely or habitually behaves in such a manner as to injure or endanger the morals or health of self or others;
- commits any act constituting an offense that can only be committed by a minor and that is not designated as a delinquent act; or
- fails to obey any lawful order of a court of competent jurisdiction given in a non criminal action.
As a minor, it is your parents' responsibility to provide proper parental care and control of you. This includes providing adequate food, shelter, and clothing for you. If you don't live with your parents now, then you could be in juvenile detention, in a foster placement, or living with a family member or friend. Upon being charged with an offense, you face being placed in detention. I am sure you are aware that is where people under the age of 18 who commit crimes go to instead of adult jail or prison. If you were already in detention, you won't be released from detention for committing another crime.
If you were living with a family friend or guardian and disrupted your placement with them while being charged as an incorrigible child, the courts would have to determine the most appropriate setting for you. Surely detention would be a consideration. If the people you live with did not want you to return, where you would go hinges on how you got there in the first place. If you were placed with a family member or friend because your parents weren't doing a good job of parenting you, then if the circumstances that caused your parents to lose you still exist, there is a chance you wouldn't return to them.
If CPS or any other state agency was involved in removing you from your parents the first time, that would be taken into consideration when determining where to place you.
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