Sec. 3. (a) A parent or guardian of the estate of:

(1) a child adjudicated a delinquent child or a child in need of services; or

(2) a participant in a program of informal adjustment approved by a juvenile court under IC 31-34-8 or IC 31-37-9;

is financially responsible as provided in this chapter (or IC 31-6-4-18(e) before its repeal) for any services provided by or through the department.

(b) Each person described in subsection (a) shall, before a hearing under subsection (c) concerning payment or reimbursement of costs, furnish the court and the department with an accurately completed and current child support obligation worksheet on the same form that is prescribed by the Indiana supreme court for child support orders.

(c) At:

(1) a detention hearing;

(2) a hearing that is held after the payment of costs by the department under section 2 of this chapter (or IC 31-6-4-18(b) before its repeal);

(3) the dispositional hearing; or

(4) any other hearing to consider modification of a dispositional decree;

the juvenile court shall order the child's parents or the guardian of the child's estate to pay for, or reimburse the department for the cost of services provided to the child or the parent or guardian unless the court makes a specific finding that the parent or guardian is unable to pay or that justice would not be served by ordering payment from the parent or guardian.

(d) Any parental reimbursement obligation under this section shall be paid directly to the department and not to the local court clerk so long as the child in need of services case, juvenile delinquency case, or juvenile status offense case is open. The department shall keep track of all payments made by each parent and shall provide a receipt for each payment received. At the end of the child in need of services, juvenile delinquency, or juvenile status action, the department shall provide an accounting of payments received, and the court may consider additional evidence of payment activity and determine the amount of parental reimbursement obligation that remains unpaid. The court shall reduce the unpaid balance to a final judgment that may be enforced in any court having jurisdiction over such matters.

(e) After a judgment for unpaid parental reimbursement obligation is rendered, payments made toward satisfaction of the judgment shall be made to the clerk of the court in the county where the enforcement action is filed and shall be promptly forwarded to the department in the same manner as any other judgment payment.

[Pre-1997 Recodification Citation: 31-6-4-18(c), (e) part.]

As added by P.L.1-1997, SEC.23. Amended by P.L.273-1999, SEC.120; P.L.146-2008, SEC.667; P.L.182-2009(ss), SEC.388.