Rule 32.Detention hearing

Rule 32 governs the hearing at which the Rule 31 findings are made.

The evidence standard

At the detention hearing the family court may admit any evidence relevant to the necessity for detaining the child.

That is a deliberately wide door, and it is bounded by relevance to a single question — the necessity for detention, not the merits of the delinquency allegation. The adjudicatory hearing under Rule 35 is where the allegation is tried.

The relaxed standard here contrasts with the domestic relations side, where Rule 21(f)(3) requires all evidence at a temporary hearing to comply with the South Carolina Rules of Evidence, and with Rule 14(g), which makes a contempt hearing an evidentiary hearing under the rules of evidence as modified by these rules.

Proceeding without the parents

The hearing may be held without the presence of the child's parents if they cannot be located after reasonable effort.

Two conditions: the parents must be unlocatable in fact, and the effort to find them must have been reasonable. Detention is not delayed indefinitely because a parent cannot be reached — but neither does a cursory attempt satisfy the rule.

The substitute

And where that happens, protection follows automatically: if the parents are not located, the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for the child.

Shall, not may. A child does not face a detention hearing with nobody in the room for them. Rule 12 addresses the fee where such a guardian is represented by an attorney, and Rule 41 caps the guardian's own fee in abuse and neglect proceedings.

The rest of the juvenile protections

Rule 36 requires notice of the right to counsel to be served on the child, the parents or guardians, with appointed counsel where the parents cannot afford one — so the guardian ad litem under Rule 32 and counsel under Rule 36 are separate safeguards that can both apply.