If our local staff can't reach a resolution it is kicked up to central office level and we try to solve it up here and advise locals how to proceed. Of course, the judge isn't bound by our decisions but usually will decide the way that is presented to him. And the judge could give jurisdiction to both agencies at the same time if there is a petition for dependency and another one for a delinquent offense both before him. It's often unfair the the factors with the most weight tends to be the age . Obviously, with younger children there is a tendency to lean towards social services.
Size however can even be a factor.
The other influencing factor is the substantiation of abuse in younger years. In other words if the child is already within the social services system it is more likely to stay there than a 15 year old who is being abused but was never a social services open case previously. In Kentucky we do have dual jurisdictions but if the child is committed to DJJ the dependency commitment is held in abeyance for the most part. DJJ has case responsibility but the Families and Children worker might be doing some termination of parental rights work, etc. Once DJJ is finished with the child as far as treatment of delinquency then we ask the court to rescind the delinquent commitment and social services takes over the case.