Having Trouble with Your Living Situation and Need Help Immediately?

The California Family Urgent Response System  is a free hotline for current or former foster youth and their caregivers to call and get immediate help for any issues (big or small) they may be having. 

The hotline is open 24 hours per day. It is a safe and private space to talk and share your concerns.

When you call the FURS hotline, you will be connected with a trained counselor or peer who will listen to you. If more support is needed, a team can come directly to where you are to help you work on the problem and to create a plan to help stabilize your situation and keep you safe. The team will also help connect you to local services and future support. 

If you need assistance, CALL OR TEXT: 1-833-939-FURS (3877) or visit online at www.cal-furs.org.

FURS is a coordinated statewide, regional, and county-level system designed to provide collaborative and timely state-level phone-based response and county-level in-home, in-person mobile response during situations of instability, to preserve the relationship of the caregiver and the child or youth. For additional FURS program resources and background information, please click here.

Foster Youth Rights in Juvenile Dependency Court

You and Your Attorney

If you are a child in foster care, you should have a lawyer who has been appointed to represent you in juvenile court.  See California Rules of Court, Rule 5.660; see also Welfare and Institutions Code § 317.6. 

Your lawyer must give you their contact information within a short time after being assigned to your case. As soon as you meet your lawyer, ask for their business card (including email address).

Your attorney should be able to answer your questions about court procedures and the laws.  Email may be the best way to get ahold of your lawyer because they can check email in court. If you do not know who your lawyer is, call your social worker, the Office of the Ombudsperson for Foster Care, or Advokids.

Your Attorney is Supposed to be Notified by the County Prior to a Placement Change

As soon as the county case worker (or the agency) makes a decision with respect to your placement or a change in your placement, there is an obligation for that case worker/agency to notify your attorney PRIOR to the change.  Your attorney is supposed to be provided with your new address, telephone number and name of the caregiver.  If the requisite notice cannot be provided to your attorney before you are moved, the notification shall be provided no later than the close of the following business day.  Welfare and Institutions Code §16010.6(a)

If there is going to be a placement change that results in separation of you and your sibling(s) who are currently placed together, your attorney and your siblings' attorney (if they attorney is not the same) must be notified of the separation no less than 10 calendar days prior to the planned change of placement so that the attorney(s) may investigate the circumstances of the proposed separation.  If the intended separation is due to seven days notice given by a foster family agency, group home, or other foster care provider, the case worker/agency must provide notice to the attorney(s) by the end of the next business day after receipt of seven days notice from the provider.  If exigent circumstances exist, the case worker/agency shall provide notice as soon as possible, but no later than the close of the first business day following the change of placement.  Welfare and Institutions Code §16010.6(c)

If you were moved to a new foster home and did not want to be, please contact your attorney and see if s/he received notice of the move.  You should feel free to contact your attorney any time a decision is made about your life that you are not happy about.  Your attorney is there to advocate for you so call and see if s/he can do anything about your placement (by talking to the county case worker or filing the necessary papers in court).

Reporting A Problem With Your Attorney

"Attorneys or their agents are expected to meet regularly with clients, including clients who are children, regardless of the age of the child or the child's ability to communicate verbally, to contact social workers and other professionals associated with the client's case, to work with other counsel and the court to resolve disputed aspects of a case without contested hearing, and to adhere to the mandated timelines. The attorney for the child must have sufficient contact with the child to establish and maintain an adequate and professional attorney-client relationship. The attorney for the child is not required to assume the responsibilities of a social worker and is not expected to perform services for the child that are unrelated to the child's legal representation."  California Rules of Court, Rule 5.660(d)(4)

Rule 5.660(e) further mandates a complaint procedure for appointed attorneys in which the court must take action.  If you believe that your court-appointed attorney is not representing your interests, you can report problems or lodge complaints to the presiding judge of the juvenile court by using the “Request for Assistance with Court Appointed Attorney” form.  You may find instructions for completing the form here.  If you know your judge's name or department, you can address the letter to that judge and send your letter there.  If you do not know who your judge is, try searching online for the supervising or presiding judge of the juvenile dependency court in the county your case is in.  If you can't find out who that is, address your letter to "Supervising Juvenile Dependency Judge" and send it to the juvenile dependency court in your county.

Another recourse if you encounter problems with your attorney is you can contact the State Bar of California's Chief Trial Counsel and file a complaint for any unethical professional conduct.  For more information, please click here.

Right to Notice of Hearings

When you are in foster care, the juvenile court judge makes decisions about your life.  You have the right to receive notice of all court hearings related to your case if you are 10 years or older.  Welfare and Institutions Code §§ 290.1, 290.2, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295.

Right to Attend Hearings

You have the right to attend all of your court hearings and speak to the judge to voice your opinion. Welfare and Institutions Code § 349.  If you are 10 years old or older, you must be at your court hearings unless you clearly tell your lawyer you do not want to go.  In certain counties, such as Los Angeles, the local rules of court require social workers to notify children four years or older of their right to appear at court hearings and provide transportation so that they can attend.

You also have the right to request that other people be permitted to attend your court hearing with you.  The judge or referee may admit other people that the court decides have a "direct and legitimate interest" in your case.  Welfare and Institutions Code § 346.

Right to Have a Say in Placement Decisions

Your attorney must be notified about a decision to change your placement as soon as the decision is made, but not later than the close of the following business day.  Welfare and Institutions Code § 16010.6(a). If you are moved, call your attorney and let them know.  

Any time you are placed into foster care, when your foster placement changes, or there is a plan for you to return home,  you have the right to make a brief statement to the court making a decision on placement. The court may disregard your preferences.  Welfare and Institutions Code § 399.

Right to Be Involved in Your Case Planning

You are allowed to be involved in the development of your own case plan, including placement decisions, and plan for permanency. Welfare and Institutions Code § 16001.9(a)(37). If you are 10 years of age or older, you are allowed to review your case plan and plan for permanent placement, and to receive information about your out-of-home placement and case plan, including being told of changes to the plan. Welfare and Institutions Code § 16001.9(a)(38).

Right to Your Case Files

You have the right to see and receive a copy of your child welfare records juvenile case records, and educational records at no cost until you are 26 years old, subject to existing federal and state confidentiality laws.  Welfare and Institutions Code § 16001.9(a)(36). You do not need a court order and can go directly to the clerk's office and ask to see your case file.  If you are having difficulty accessing your case file at the clerk's office, please click here.

In general, all of your case information should be confidential.  The judge can only share records with someone who is not a party to your case if it is in your best interest to do so.  If your judge wants to share any of your case information, he/she must hold a hearing and notify you and your attorney so you can be heard.  Welfare and Institutions Code § 349

When your case is dismissed, the judge must ensure that you know how and where to get your records.  Your case file includes information regarding why you were removed from your parents, what happened to you, and the actions of the court over the years.  You can ask the court to seal your record when you turn 18 (or five years after your last juvenile court case has ended, whichever comes first).  However, if you committed a felony, serious misdemeanor, or certain vehicle violations when you were 14 years of age or older, it is up to the court’s discretion whether to grant or deny your request to seal your records.

Asking the Judge to Make Decisions About Your Life

If a judge made a decision in your case and something has changed in your life that makes that decision no longer in your best interests, you or your attorney can fill out a form called “Request to Change Court Order (Form JV-180)“. For information about the JV-180 and instructions on how to fill it out please click here.  The JV-180 form is supposed to explain to the judge that circumstances in your life have changed and that you need the judge to make new decisions that will make your life better. You or your attorney must then take or mail copies of the completed form to the court clerk’s office.  If you are having a problem with your attorney about filing a JV-180, please call Advokids.

The judge may ask the other people involved with your case if they think you have given the judge the kind of information he/she must have in order to change a decision. Then the judge will decide if you told him/her anything new and if the change you want the judge to make is good for you.

If the judge believes you have not told him/her anything new or believes that what you want is not good for you, the judge will not make any changes. The court clerk will send a written notice of the decision not to make any changes to you and all the people involved with your case.

If the judge believes that you did tell him/her something new and what you are asking for will make life better for you, the judge will schedule a court date for you. The court clerk will send a written notice of the decision to schedule a hearing and the date of the hearing to you and all the people involved with your case.

At that court date, everyone involved in your case will be present and allowed to speak. After everyone has spoken, the judge will make the final decision. The judge will make the changes you want only if he/she believes you have told the court something new and what you are asking for is good for you.