Section 311.4  Referral Criteria

In order for a youth to be referred to the Governor's Youth Services Initiative, the presiding juvenile judge or designee must determine that one or more of the following criteria are met:

a)         There is a major disagreement between the court and a state agency as to that state agency's responsibility for the child or as to the type of service that the child is to receive.  A major disagreement is one which creates the appearance that litigation is imminent or probable.  This disagreement must arise between the court and the state agency which is expected to respond to the major presenting problem.

b)         There is a major disagreement between state agencies as to which agency is responsible for service delivery.

c)         If neither subsections (a) nor (b) above apply, then all regular channels designed to elicit services must have been pursued and failed and documentation which shows services have been denied must be available in the Juvenile Court file.