§ 31-40-1-3.5 — Payment by parent or guardian for cost of services provided by department of correction

Indiana § 31-40-1-3.5

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 40: JUVENILE LAW: FUNDING
• Ch. 1: Cost of Services; Liability of Parent or Guardian to Pay

Text

5. (a) If a juvenile court:
(1) adjudicates a child to be a delinquent child; and
(2) awards wardship of the child to the department of correction;
the juvenile court may conduct a hearing. The juvenile court shall use
the Child Support Rules and Guidelines of the Indiana supreme court
and the child support obligation worksheet developed by the Indiana
supreme court to determine what each parent should pay for the
services provided for the child under this section. If the parent
participates with the treatment plans developed by the department of
correction, the parent or parents are entitled to receive a parenting time
credit under the Child Support Rules and Guidelines. The hearing may
be conducted before or after the department of correction incurs costs
for a child.
(b) Each parent shall, before a hearing under subsection (a), furnish
the juvenile court and the department of correction with an accurately
completed and current child support obligation worksheet on the same
form that is prescribed by the Indiana supreme court for child support
orders.
(c) A juvenile court may not order a parent to pay or reimburse the
department of correction unless the juvenile court makes a specific
finding that the parent is able to pay.
(d) If, after a hearing, the juvenile court orders a parent to pay or
reimburse costs, the parent is financially responsible for the costs of
treatment services incurred by the department of correction.
(e) Any parental reimbursement obligation under this section shall
be paid directly to the clerk of the court so long as the juvenile
delinquency case is open. The clerk of the court shall keep track of all
payments made by each parent and shall provide a receipt for each
payment received. At the end of the juvenile delinquency action, the
clerk of the court shall provide an accounting of payments received,
and the juvenile court may consider additional evidence of payment
activity and determine the amount of parental reimbursement
obligation that remains unpaid. The juvenile court shall reduce the
unpaid balance to a final judgment that may be enforced in any court
having jurisdiction over such matters.
(f) After a judgment for unpaid parental reimbursement obligation
is rendered, payments made toward satisfaction of the judgment shall
be made to the clerk of the court in the county where the enforcement
action is filed and shall be forwarded promptly to the department of
correction in the same manner as any other judgment payment.
(g) The department of correction may compromise a claim owed by
a parent under this section. The department of correction, after
obtaining the advice of the attorney general, may notify the court of a
parental reimbursement obligation that is willfully ignored.
(h) Upon release from the department of correction, the parental
reimbursement obligation payment to the department of correction
ends. If there was a child support order for the child adjudicated
delinquent, it reverts to the most recent child support order in effect
before the child's adjudication. If the child is placed with a person other
than a custodial parent, the juvenile court shall establish a new support
order for the benefit of the child being released from the department of
correction.
(i) The department of correction shall deposit money collected
under this section in the division of youth services transitional services
fund established by IC 11-10-2-11.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.204-2011, SEC.4. Amended by P.L.151-2023, SEC.2.