Foster Care & Extended Foster Care, Juvenile Justice, Success & Impact
YLC asks Court to Depublish Opinion in Ivan N.
YLC filed a request with the California Supreme Court to depublish In re Ivan N, a recently issued California Court of Appeal opinion holding that foster youth education rights do not apply to probation supervised foster youth. The court badly misinterpreted several statutory provisions that are critical in ensuring that probation-supervised foster youth are treated equitably and receive the education related protections when they transition to community placements. The court held that certain protections including the right to continue in the school attended before being detained or attending a regular school in the community where placed did not apply to probation supervised youth. The juvenile court denied Ivan, a ward in the juvenile hall awaiting placement in a group home facility that required him to attend the facility school, a hearing on whether he could return to his regular high school. The court held that school of origin rights did not apply to probation foster youth and that probation officers become the youth’s educational decision maker once wardship is declared. Permitting this decision to remain published will cause confusion, undermine educational stability and facilitate pushing probation supervised youth in to underperforming alternative schools. Depublication nullifies the precedential impact of an appellate decision since unpublished opinions are not citable as precedent. The decision on our depublication request is still pending. We may also consider filing an amicus brief if the court agrees to take the youth’s appeal.