Interest of Kilianek

378 A.2d 995, 250 Pa. Super. 394, 1977 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2354
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided October 6, 1977·No. No. 792·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

SPAETH, Judge:

On November 21, 1975, a Petition of Delinquency was filed charging that appellant, Candy Kilianek, had committed the offense of “incorrigibility.” The petition listed seven instances between July 29, 1974, and October 24, 1975, when Candy ran away, and also enumerated as specific acts of disobedience the following: failure to attend school on a regular basis; being a disruptive force at Harmony House, at the Children’s Service Shelter, and at home; and failure to abide by the reasonable and lawful commands of her parents and custodians.

On January 28, 1976, an evidentiary hearing was begun before a master; the hearing was completed on April 6, 1976. On April 28 Candy was adjudicated a delinquent child [396] and ordered placed for an indefinite period in Gannondale School for Girls. On July 29 Candy was removed from Gannondale and placed in Edmund L. Thomas Hall Juvenile Detention Center. On August 23, after a replacement hearing, she was transferred to the Youth Development Center at Waynesburg.

This appeal challenges both the adjudication of delinquency (No. 792 April Term 1976) and the placement order. (No. 23 April Term 1977). We reverse the adjudication of delinquency and therefore do not consider the placement order.*

I

The Petition of Delinquency filed on November 21, 1975, was accompanied by allegations of “incorrigibility.” We accept the Commonwealth’s argument that these allegations gave sufficient notice that Candy was charged with being ungovernable. See In re Garner, 230 Pa.Super. 476, 326 A.2d 581 (1974). Therefore, to be adjudicated delinquent, Candy had to be shown to have committed a delinquent act under subsection (2)(ii) of section 50-102 of the Juvenile Act, Act of December 6, 1972, P.L. 1464, No. 333, § 2, 11 P.S. § 50-102 (Supp.1976), which reads in pertinent part:

(2) “Delinquent act” means: . . . (ii) a specific act or acts of habitual disobedience of the reasonable and lawful commands of his parent, guardian, or other custodian committed by a child who is ungovernable. .

As we read this definition, it sets forth two requirements that must be satisfied before there may be a finding of a delinquent act: first, it must be shown that the child has committed “a specific act or acts of habitual disobedience”; and second, it must be shown that the child “is ungovernable.”

[397] The Commonwealth asserts that it is not necessary to show that a child is at present — i.e. at the time of the adjudication hearing — ungovernable. The Commonwealth argues:

. The appellant would have us believe that once she commits an act of delinquency, the mere passage of time will exonerate her from any accountability or liability for such act. Nothing can be further from the truth. Had the Appellant committed an act designated a crime under the criminal code, she would, under her argument, say, “Yes, I committed a crime six months ago, but because I haven’t committed another one since that time, I should not be subject to the jurisdiction of this Juvenile Court.” To adopt this argument as a rule would completely frustrate the purposes of the Juvenile Act.
This section of the Juvenile Act, while [sic] plain and unambiguous, does not require a finding of present ungovernability. Rather, this section requires proof of “a specific act or acts of habitual disobedience * * * of a child who is ungovernable;” and this is exactly what was proven.
Appellee’s Brief at 9.

This argument suggests, either that it is not necessary to show that a child is ungovernable — that quality being proved merely by proof of disobedience — or that it is not necessary to show that a child is ungovernable — the implication being, once ungovernable, always ungovernable.

The Commonwealth’s first suggestion renders the words “who is ungovernable” mere surplusage. By statute, such . an interpretation is not favored. The Statutory Construction Act provides:

In ascertaining the intention of the Legislature in the enactment of a law; the courts may be guided by the following presumptions among others:
(2) That the Legislature intends the entire statute to be effective and certain; .

[398] Act of May 28, 1937, P.L. 1019, art. IV, § 52; 46 P.S. § 552. We encounter no difficulty in concluding that the Legislature intended to require proof of both “habitual disobedience” and “ungovernability]”. A child who is habitually disobedient is not necessarily ungovernable. Suppose, for example, a child who habitually disobeys his parents’ “reasonable and lawful commands” to be at home by a given time, but who explains his disobedience by saying, “My parents never punish me, so why should I obey them?” The child is not ungovernable, but ungoverned. He may well be a deprived child in that he “is without proper parental care or control,” 11 Pa.C.S. § 50 — 102(4)(i); but he is not a delinquent child.

The Commonwealth’s second suggestion likewise misses the point of the ungovernability classification. Suppose a child shown to be ungovernable at the age of ten in 1970, but, when a hearing is held in 1976, governable. “Ungovernability” is not an act (or series of acts) but a condition. It is true, as the Commonwealth argues, that in a historical sense, the “passage of time” will not undo the child’s acts of disobedience; however, it may alter his ungovernable condition. Under our reading of Section 50-102(2)(ii), the passage of six years, together with a showing that during that period the child’s condition has improved, may lead a fact-finder to conclude that in 1976 the child “is” not ungovernable and therefore “is” not delinquent. Granted, by supposing six years we have stated an easy case, but the principle is the same, whether the period be six years or, as here, six months.

II

Before October 26, 1975, Candy Kilianek’s history was troubled. She ran away from her parents’ home five times, from foster homes three times, and from temporary placements seven times. There was evidence that she would not obey authority — whether that of her parents, foster parents, school officials, or staff members at the shelter homes where she was placed. This evidence was sufficient to support a [399] finding of ungovernability. In In re Garner, supra, we sustained a finding of ungovernability on similar evidence.

However, from October 26, 1975, when she was placed with new foster parents, the Holdsons, until April 6, 1976, Candy showed a considerable improvement. Given that improvement, we might reverse an adjudication of delinquency based on a finding of ungovernability, on the ground that the Commonwealth had not established the statutory requirement of showing that Candy “is ungovernable.” However, we need not decide that now, for here, by our reading of the record, there has been no finding that Candy is ungovernable.

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Interest of Kilianek, 378 A.2d 995, 250 Pa. Super. 394, 1977 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2354 (Pa. Ct. App. 1977).

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