We understand from many of you that some juvenile court clerks are unaware of the new court rule and revised JV-290 forms and information sheet for caregivers. As you all know, under the new procedure, the court clerks are required to serve the forms on attorneys. The California Administrative Office of the Courts has sent out a memo on the new procedure to the presiding juvenile court judges and juvenile court personnel. Until the new procedure is firmly in place, LAPP suggests the following process to avoid confusion at the clerk’s office.

1. Call the juvenile court clerk in advance to see if they are prepared to serve the new form on attorneys and let the clerk know about the memo from the Administrative Office of the Courts so that he/she has time to check with other court personnel about it. To clarify: Caregivers are permitted to file the form with the court – you do not have to give it to the social worker instead. The court clerk will provide copies of your form to the attorneys in the case. Take or send 8 copies with you. See the Court Rule below for more information on timelines.

2. Take a copy of the Court Rule, the information sheet and a blank copy of the JV-290 form with you when you go to the clerk’s office to file the JV-290 form. If the clerk at the desk will not take the form, ask to see the supervisor, then the court manager, if necessary and show them the new rule of court and the forms. California courts are required by law to take official Judicial Council forms. Here are the forms and rule of court below:

3. For those of you wishing to file a Prospective Adoptive Parent (PAP) form, the court clerk will also serve the attorneys with your forms. There has also been some confusion about this. We recommend you take a copy of the JV-325 INFO form with you when you file your JV-321 form. The JV-325 INFO form clearly states in Item 1 that the court clerk is responsible for noticing the attorneys when a caregiver files a PAP form (JV-321). Here are the forms below:

4. Please keep track of how your foster parents are doing filing these court forms. If there are counties where the process is working well, we would like to know that. If there are counties that need additional help, we would also like to know that. Hopefully, the process will be clear to everyone soon.