9:22-8. Adjustment committee of guidance council; plan of operation; records; reports

8. Any municipal youth guidance council may, by resolution, create a special subcommittee to be known as the adjustment committee consisting of persons qualified by experience and training to assist in and to co-ordinate the efforts of police, schools, and other agencies to provide guidance and counsel to children with incipient behavior problems and to co-operate with the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Family Part having jurisdiction when cases arise in which official adjudication of delinquency seems indicated.

When an adjustment committee shall have been appointed, the municipal youth guidance council shall draft a plan of operation which shall be registered with the State agency, referred to in section 6 of this act and with the Family Part having jurisdiction. This plan shall outline the procedure for the referral of cases to the committee by police, schools, other agencies concerned with youth problems, and by other interested persons. The adjustment committee of each municipal youth guidance commission shall maintain summary records of each child brought to its attention. The summary records shall include data concerning the circumstances surrounding each referral of a child to the committee, concerning his family, school, church, and neighborhood relationships, and concerning the methods used by the committee to improve the adjustment of the child. These records shall be confidential with the exception that they may be reviewed at any time by the judge of the Family Part having jurisdiction, to make sure that no child properly referrable to such court is denied access to the court. Each municipal youth guidance council may also be called upon to provide reports of the operations of its adjustment committee by the municipal governing body, the Family Part, or by the State agency.

L.1947,c.179,s.8; amended 1991,c.91,s.214.