Court Opinion

ID: 9674855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:36:36.175098+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:29.950522
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(concurring). The majority holds that S.D.R. was not denied his due process rights by the juvenile court’s extension of his original dispositional order for up to 30 days pending a hearing on the extension petition, sec., 48.365(6), Stats. 1979-80.
The majority does not appear to address the issue of whether there must be a cause for the delay in holding *579the extension hearing but notes that the facts of this case show that the hearing could not be held prior to the time it was held because the juvenile court was unable to schedule the hearing (supra, pp. 571-72). Therefore, the majority’s holding, in light of the facts of the case, seems to require that, before granting the temporary extension, the juvenile court must determine, on the record, that a hearing cannot be held prior to the expiration of the original order, as the juvenile court did in this case.
The majority opinion qualifies its holding with the statement that the extension petition must only set forth “some reason” for requesting the extension (supra, p. 577). I interpret these words in light of the facts stated in the case to require more than a bare assertion that the extension was necessary. The majority affirmed the extension order in this case based on the facts that the extension petition was attached to a report containing a detailed analysis of S.D.R.’s progress and probable future needs (supra, pp. 569-70), allowing the juvenile court to make a reasonable assessment that there were sufficient grounds, if proved, to grant the request for extension. I therefore read the majority’s opinion to mean that the extension petition should contain sufficient information to allow the juvenile court to conclude that if the facts recited in the petition and accompanying reports were true, the petition might be granted.
I would add to the majority’s opinion that when the extension petition is filed so close to the expiration of the first dispositional order that holding a hearing before the order expires is nearly impossible, the petition should set forth reasons for the tardy filing. The practice of last-minute filing for no stated reason appears to be attributed only to human inclination to wait until the last minute to act. This practice should not be condoned in this kind of case.