In Re Ruben D.
- Reporters:
- , ,
- Before:
- Bosson
OPINION
BOSSON, Judge.
{1} Ruben D., a juvenile, appeals an order of the children’s court extending legal custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) over him for a year past his initial two-year commitment. See
BACKGROUND
{2} Ruben is a delinquent child. His delinquency adjudication followed a series of referrals to CYFD, which included substance abuse and a physical altercation with his mother. These referrals culminated in CYFD petitioning the court to adjudicate Ruben a delinquent child for having committed a burglary, and the court did so on January 28, 1997. The court’s disposition transferred legal custody of Ruben to CYFD for long-term commitment, measured by statute as an indeterminate period not to exceed two years. See NMSA 1978, § 32A-2 — 19(B)(2)(b) (1996). In its disposition, the court expressly reserved jurisdiction to extend Ruben’s commitment. According to the original disposition, CYFD’s custody was to expire on January 28, 1999. The validity of the original two-year commitment is not at issue in this appeal.
{3} In September 1998, CYFD decided not to request an extension of Ruben’s commitment. In preparation for terminating Ruben’s commitment, CYFD forwarded a letter to the JPB outlining its decision to allow its custody to expire. After CYFD sent the letter, Ruben escaped from the Boy’s School for a period of two days. At that time, Ruben’s escape did not alter CYFD’s recommendation to allow his commitment to expire. Although aware of the escape, the JPB issued a certificate of discharge on January 11, 1999, effective January 30, 1999, a date that reflects an extension of two days of commitment to make up for Ruben’s escape.
{4} Meanwhile, the children’s court scheduled a hearing to consider extending Ruben’s commitment. Apparently unaware that the JPB was going to issue a certificate of discharge, the court issued notice to all concerned parties, drafted on January 7, 1999, that a re-commitment hearing would be held on January 20, 1999. At that hearing, Ruben’s counsel argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed in light of the certificate of discharge that the JPB had issued nine days earlier. The court denied Ruben’s motion in light of the express reservation of jurisdiction in its original commitment order.
{5} Ruben’s counsel also informed the court that he was unprepared to present a defense on that date because he had received notice of the hearing just the day before. The court began the hearing, but granted Ruben a continuance to call witnesses and offer testimony as soon as possible.
{6} At the end of the January 20 hearing, the court found that Ruben was not fit to be released and that CYFD had not arranged for a suitable place for Ruben to live if he were released. At that time Ruben was seventeen and his parent’s whereabouts were unknown. The court entered an interim order on January 25 committing Ruben to CYFD’s custody until Ruben could present his case. The second and final portion of the hearing was convened on February 23, 1999. Ruben renewed his motion that the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed, which was again denied. Ruben then presented his case, only to discover that CYFD had reversed its position. At the second hearing, CYFD requested an extension of Ruben’s commitment so that he could be placed in a transitional living home; a home that would allow Ruben to develop the skills necessary to participate productively in society. When the hearing adjourned, the court found that it was in the best interests of both Ruben and the community to extend his commitment to CYFD for another year. An order to that effect was entered on March 4,1999. DISCUSSION
{7} Ruben raises issues that involve questions of statutory interpretation. We review such questions de novo. See In re Zac McV., 1998-NMCA-114, ¶ 5, 125 N.M. 583, 964 P.2d 144. When construing statutes that have unambiguous statutory language, “we must give effect to that language and refrain from further statutory interpretation.” State v. Jonathan M., 109 N.M. 789, 790, 791 P.2d 64, 65 (1990). If statutory language is ambiguous, however, we consider the legislative purpose behind the statute in conjunction with all the provisions of the children’s code to resolve its meaning. See In re Zac McV., 1998-NMCA-114, ¶ 10, 125 N.M. 583, 964 P.2d 144.
Whether the Children’s Court May Convene a Hearing to Extend Commitment Without a Motion From Either CYFD or the Child
{8} Ruben’s initial argument is that the court lacked jurisdiction to convene a hearing sua sponte to consider extending his commitment. Ruben contends that statutory law divested the court of jurisdiction once Ruben was transferred to CYFD’s custody. His argument is based on
{9} Ruben’s view of the court’s jurisdiction is overly restrictive. In In re Zac McV., 1998-NMCA-114, ¶ 14, 125 N.M. 583, 964 P.2d 144, we interpreted subsection (F) of
{10} We recently outlined the role of the children’s court in handling dispositions of delinquent children. See State v. Adam M., 2000-NMCA-049, 129 N.M. 146, 2 P.3d 883. In Adam M., we held that the children’s court lacked statutory authority to order consecutive commitments in a single disposition. See id. ¶ 10. In so deciding, we recognized that the children’s code envisioned a flexible, indeterminate commitment process; one that allows the court to “address[ ] the rehabilitative purpose of a long-term commitment by permitting the children’s court to extend its judgment of commitment for additional periods of one year each until the child reaches the age of twenty-one.” Id. We decided that consecutive commitments were impermissible because the children’s code gave the court discretionary authority to lengthen a commitment only at the end of a long-term disposition. According to our interpretation of the children’s code, “the children’s court must exercise its discretion over a long-term commitment at the end of the commitment, after reviewing a record of the child’s performance while committed, instead of at the beginning when the court has less information before it. The legislature has made this choice.” Id.
{11} We remain steadfast in this interpretation of the code. The code intended the court to tailor a disposition to the specific needs of a child, and the legislature implemented its intent by granting the court power to review a child’s progress in the custody of CYFD at the end of a commitment period. See id. Periodic review by the court provides a check on a child’s improvement, and allows the court to extend a commitment, if necessary, to ensure that the rehabilitative purpose of the code is met. See id. To the extent
{12} Ruben’s reliance on our language in a former opinion stating that “the children’s court may not retain jurisdiction indefinitely” does not aid his cause. State v. Carlos A., 1996-NMCA-082, ¶15, 122 N.M. 241, 923 P.2d 608. Carlos A. concerned the court’s ability to modify a disposition on a child’s motion under
Whether the Children’s Court Retained Jurisdiction After the JPB Issued a Certificate of Discharge
{13} Ruben also insists that the court lost jurisdiction to extend his commitment once the JPB issued his certificate of discharge. Ruben seeks to take advantage of a feature in the code that separates the authority to commit a child, which lies in the court, from the authority to release a child, which is granted to the JPB. Compare § 32A-2-19(B)(2) (authorizing the court to commit a child to the custody of CYFD), and
{14} The statutory divestiture of jurisdiction in subsection (A) of
{15} The JPB is an institution primarily concerned with making parole decisions for delinquent children before a commitment expires. See
{16} The children’s code treats the JPB’s authority in the present situation somewhat differently. Unlike an early release or parole, the JPB must release a child at the expiration of a commitment order. See
{17} The record here buttresses the conclusion that the JPB certificate of discharge did nothing more than formally acknowledge the termination of Ruben’s commitment order. If the JPB had invoked its exclusive authority to parole Ruben before the expiration of his commitment, it would have notified the court. But the court never received such notice. Similarly, early parole would have required Ruben to appear before the JPB for an interview, which never happened. See
Time Limitations for Completing a Re-commitment Hearing
{18} Ruben asserts that the court’s extension order of March 4, 1999, must be reversed because it was filed after his original commitment had expired. His argument rests on the statutory language stating, “Pri- or to the expiration of a long-term commitment ... the court may extend the judgment for additional periods of one year .... ”
{19} The court drafted its notice on January 7 for the hearing to be held on January 20, 1999. The children’s court attorney received notice by facsimile the same day it was drafted. On January 20, 1999, the day of the hearing, Ruben’s counsel stated that he received notice just the day before and counsel was unprepared to present a case. We are not informed why Ruben’s counsel failed to receive notice earlier, but the record reveals that notice was sent to the public defender’s office no later than January 13, 1999.
{20} Because Ruben’s counsel was unprepared, the court entertained a motion to continue the hearing allowing Ruben an opportunity to call witnesses. Counsel informed the court that he would be “more than happy to set this up for a later hearing,” when he could rebut evidence offered to extend Ruben’s commitment. The court ruled that it would begin the hearing that day to determine whether Ruben’s commitment should be extended, but the court also granted Ruben a continuance to call witnesses and offer testimony at a subsequent hearing to be conducted as soon as possible. A second and final hearing was held for that purpose on February 23, 1999. On March 4, 1999, the court entered its order extending Ruben’s commitment for an additional year.
{21} Ruben complains that the order extending his commitment must be reversed because it was entered after his commitment had already expired, contrary to statute. However, counsel never made this argument to the children’s court, nor did counsel request the court to rule on the application to the proceedings of the “prior to” language in
{22} The court granted Ruben a continuance so that he could prepare and present his case; everyone else was ready to proceed on January 20, 1999. Although we do not believe a child waives the right to a timely hearing simply by obtaining a continuance, once Ruben requested and received his continuance, he was obliged to inform the court that subsection (D) posed a problem.
{23} “The procedural rules applicable to adjudicatory hearings are applicable to motions to extend custody.” Doe, 93 N.M. at 750, 605 P.2d at 258. We acknowledge that the time limitations imposed by the children’s code are jurisdictional, and when they are not met, dismissal is required. See
Sufficiency of Evidence to Extend the Commitment
{24} As his final argument, Ruben asserts that the evidence failed to justify extending his commitment. We disagree. The record reflects that Ruben did not make any progress in his rehabilitation for the first eighteen months of his commitment. Not until September 1998, when Ruben became aware that his stay at the Boy’s School was about to end, did Ruben begin to demonstrate improvement. The record also demonstrates that Ruben had anger management problems, leading to at least seventeen instances which resulted in disciplinary isolation. The court questioned the sincerity of Ruben’s rehabilitative efforts as his violent outbursts continued after he completed anger management classes. Ruben’s inability to control his anger became apparent during the February hearing when an outburst caused an interruption in the proceedings and his removal from the hearing. When coupled with Ruben’s November escape and his failure to obtain his graduate equivalency diploma (G.E.D.), the evidence was sufficient to find that an extension of Ruben’s commitment was “necessary to safeguard the welfare of the child or the public interest.”
{25} Ruben insists that his deficiencies were not of his own making, but were due to CYFD’s neglect. He contends that his disciplinary placements in isolation were caused by being forced to live in a dorm with members of a rival gang, where he had to fight for his life. Further, while in isolation he was offered no educational assistance in regard to working on his G.E.D., even though he was diagnosed with a moderate ease of attention deficit disorder. Ruben argues that he cannot be punished with an extended commitment based on CYFD’s own ineffectiveness. Ruben did not raise this issue below, and we therefore will not consider it on appeal.
{26} Ruben includes in his brief a passing reference that the court must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that extending his commitment was “necessary to safeguard the welfare of the child or the public interest.”
CONCLUSION
{27} For the reasons discussed above, we affirm the order of the children’s court extending Ruben’s commitment to the custody ofCYFD.
{28} IT IS SO ORDERED.
WE CONCUR: WECHSLER and SUTIN, JJ.