One courthouse,
two different cases.
Delinquency and dependency both happen in juvenile court. Which one you are in changes who is accused, what is at stake, and what happens next.
Which case is this?
Delinquency: the child is accused.
A petition under Welfare & Institutions Code § 602 alleges the child broke the law. The child is the respondent, is entitled to counsel, and the allegations must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The stated goal is rehabilitation, not punishment — which does not make the consequences small.
Dependency: the parent is answering.
A petition under § 300 alleges a child has been abused or neglected, or is at risk. The county is the petitioner and the parent is the one responding. Jurisdiction is decided by a preponderance of the evidence — a far lower bar.
Families sometimes face both at once.
A single incident can generate a delinquency petition against a teenager and a dependency petition against the parents. Statements in one proceeding travel to the other.
What differs in practice
Who gets a lawyer.
In delinquency, the child has counsel. In dependency, indigent parents and the child are each entitled to appointed counsel. In both, retained counsel can start work before the first hearing — which is where most of the leverage is.
How fast the clock runs.
A detained child gets a delinquency detention hearing within 48 hours. A dependency detention hearing follows removal within about two court days, and reunification periods can be as short as six months for a young child.
What the case is trying to produce.
Delinquency ends in a disposition — probation, programs, placement. Dependency ends in either reunification or a permanent plan, up to and including termination of parental rights.
Where it goes next.
Read the delinquency guide or the dependency guide for the stage-by-stage detail.
The two jurisdictional statutes, and the standards that separate them.
Authorities current as of 2025. Law changes; nothing here is a substitute for advice on your own facts.
Before the petition is filed.
In juvenile law, the widest set of options exists at the very beginning — at intake, before an interview, before anything is signed. Bring us the situation as it stands and we'll map what happens next.
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