County court intake services. a. Each county shall establish a court intake service which shall have among its responsibilities the screening of juvenile delinquency complaints and juvenile-family crisis referrals. The intake service shall operate in compliance with standards established by the Supreme Court, but in no instance shall the standards for personnel employed as counselors be less than a master’s degree from an accredited institution in mental health or social or behavioral science discipline including degrees in social work, counseling, counseling psychology, mental health counseling or education. Equivalent experience is acceptable when it consists of a minimum of an associate’s degree with a concentration in one of the behavioral sciences and a minimum of five years’ experience working with troubled youth and their families or a bachelor’s degree in one of the behavioral sciences and two year’s experience working with troubled youth and their families. Intake personnel should also receive training in drug and alcohol abuse.

b. The court intake service shall make arrangements for the receipt of complaints, on a continuous basis, in situations where the subject of the complaint is a juvenile, or referrals through crisis intervention units where a juvenile-family crisis may exist. It shall assist the court in screening referrals for court intervention, making referrals to appropriate agencies, reviewing and approving alternative living arrangements as provided by law, determining that jurisdiction for juvenile-family crisis proceedings may exist prior to filing a petition, and in monitoring referrals for development and implementation of family service plans. Every complaint or juvenile-family crisis petition shall be reviewed by the court intake service unless otherwise ordered by the court.

c. The court intake service shall have the responsibility for monitoring, on a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week basis, the admission of alleged delinquents to the detention or shelter care facilities and no juvenile may be admitted to a detention or shelter care facility without its approval.

d. The Supreme Court shall have the authority to issue rules governing the duties, responsibilities, and practices of court intake services as it deems necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act; establish guidelines and procedures for the training of intake services staff; establish reporting procedures to be followed by court intake services in providing data for its evaluation; and conduct, at least annually, an evaluation of all intake services.

L.1982,c.81,s.1; amended 1991,c.119,s.3.