Court Opinion

ID: 9730883
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:26:59.30655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:10.418732
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SIMON, dissenting: The notice provided to the minor and to his mother, with whom he was residing, was more than sufficient to apprise him of the charges against him and to permit him to prepare and present a defense. I would not overturn the circuit court’s adjudication of delinquency on the grounds of inadequate notice under either the statute or the Constitution. Section 4 — 1(2) of the Juvenile Court Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 37, par. 704 — 1(2)) requires that certain persons be named in a petition initiating juvenile proceedings against a minor. The prosecutor must include the name of the minor’s “legal guardian or the person or persons having custody or control of the minor ***.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 37, par. 704 — 1(2)(d).) The use of the word “or” in the statute permits the prosecutor to name either the guardian or a person having “custody or control” of the minor. I believe that the minor’s mother had “custody or control” of her son by virtue of his residence in her home pending “alternative placement.” Therefore, the naming of the mother in the petition was sufficient to comply with section 4 — 1(2)(d), and it was not necessary to name or notify the guardian. The majority avoids this result by adopting an exceedingly technical and erroneous interpretation of the phrase “custody or control.” The majority holds that “custody or control” in section 4 — 1(2)(d) is identical to “legal custody,” which is defined in section 1 — 12 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 37, par. 701 — 12). In this case the Guardian Administrator of the Department of Children and Family Services possessed “legal custody” over the minor by virtue of his guardianship. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 37, par. 701 — 11(c).) Because “legal custody” cannot change except by order of the court, the guardian’s administrative act placing the minor in his mother’s home could not create “legal custody” in her. Thus, the majority argue that the notice to the mother was not to a person having “legal custody” over the minor. The majority’s interpretation of section 4 — 1(2)(d) ignores the language of the statute. If the legislature had meant “legal custody” in this section it would have used that phrase and not “custody or control.” The use of the phrase “custody or control” implies that the legislature meant to provide for the many informal and unconventional relationships between adults and a minor. I would hold that the mother’s temporary custody of the minor was more than sufficient to constitute “custody or control” under section 4 — 1(2)(d) and that consequently notice to the guardian was not required by the statute. This interpretation of section 4 — 1(2)(d) is consistent with its purpose of achieving due process by providing notice of the proceedings to the minor and other interested parties. (See In re J.W. (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 56, 60.) In In re Gault (1967), 387 U.S. 1, 33, 18 L. Ed. 2d 527, 549, 87 S. Ct. 1428, 1446, the United States Supreme Court observed that notice is required in a juvenile proceeding in order to inform the minor of the precise nature of the charges against him and to afford him with a “reasonable opportunity to prepare.” The record in this case illustrates that notice to a parent in temporary “custody or control” of the minor was more than sufficient. The minor, assisted by legal counsel, fully contested the matter at each stage in the proceedings. For much the same reason, the failure to notify the guardian of the proceedings does not violate due process either. It is important to note that this is not a case in which the guardian is objecting to the adjudication of his rights or those of the minor without notice. (Cf. In re Anast (1974), 22 Ill. App. 3d 750, 756 (due process was violated where a stepfather was not notified of proceedings in which his custody of minor children was terminated).) Here it is the juvenile who argues that his rights were violated by the failure to notify the guardian of the proceedings. As evidenced by the conduct of the proceedings the notice to the minor and his mother was more than sufficient to inform him of the charges and to permit the preparation of a suitable defense. Because I cannot discover any statutory or constitutional defect arising from the failure to notify the guardian I would reverse the decision of the appellate court. CHIEF JUSTICE RYAN joins in this dissent.