Rule 1201. Procedures for Protective Medical Custody.
When a physician examining or treating a child, a director, or a person specifically designated in writing by the director, of any hospital or other medical institution takes a child into custody pursuant to Rule 1200, the following provisions shall apply:
a) Notice.
1) The person taking the child into custody shall notify the guardian and the county agency of:
a) the whereabouts of the child, unless disclosure is prohibited by court order; and
b) the reasons for taking the child into custody.
2) Notice may be oral. The notice shall be reduced to writing within twenty-four hours.
b) Duration of custody. No child may be held in protective custody in a hospital or other medical institution for more than twenty-four hours unless the appropriate county agency is immediately notified that the child has been taken into custody and the county agency obtains an order permitting the child to be held in custody for a longer period. The president judge of each judicial district shall ensure that a judge is available twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year to accept and decide actions brought by the county agency within the twenty-four hour period.
Comment Notice to the county agency under paragraph (A) is to insure that appropriate proceedings are commenced. Notice may be oral but is to be reduced to writing within twenty-four hours.
A child taken into protective custody is to be placed during the protective custody in an appropriate medical facility, foster home, or other appropriate facility approved by the Department of Public Welfare for this purpose.
A conference between the guardian of the child taken into protective custody and the employee designated by the county agency to be responsible for the child should be held within forty-eight hours of the time that the child is taken into custody for the purpose of: 1) explaining to the guardian the reasons for the temporary detention of the child and the whereabouts of the child, unless disclosure is prohibited by court order; 2) expediting, whenever possible, the return of the child to the custody of the guardian when protective custody is no longer necessary; and 3) explaining to the guardian the rights provided for by 42 Pa.C.S. § § 6337, 6338.
See In re J.R.W., 428 Pa. Super. 597, 631 A.2d 1019 (1993) and 23 Pa.C.S. § 6315.
Official Note
Rule 1201 adopted August 21, 2006, effective February 1, 2007.
Committee Explanatory Reports:
Final Report explaining the provisions of Rule 1201 published with the Court’s Order at 36 Pa.B. 5571 (September 2, 2006).
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