CHAPTER 232

An Act to amend and reenact § 16.1-178, as amended, of the Code of Vtr-
ginia, relating to decrees which may ‘be made by juvenile and domestic
relation courts.

a as fiw Bean
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: |
1. That § 16.1-178, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted, as follows: ee

§ 16.1-178. If the court shall find that the child or minor is within
the purview of this law it shall so decree and by order duly entered proceed
as follows:

(1) Take custody and place the child or minor on probation, under
such conditions as the court shall determine. .

(2) Leave the child or minor in his own home under the supervision
of the court with or without taking custody; or take custody and place
the child or minor temporarily in a suitable home, under supervision of
the court, pending final disposition of the case.

(8) Take custody and commit the child or minor to the care and
custody of the local board of public welfare of the county or city in which
the court has jurisdiction or, at the discretion of the court, to the local
board of the county or city in which the child has residence if other than
the county or city in which the court has jurisdiction, which board shall
accept such child for care and custody; provided, however, that such local
board if one other than in the county or city in which the court has juris-
diction, shall not be required to accept such child until it has been given
reasonable notice of the pendency of the case and an opportunity to be
heard. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the commitment
of a child to any local board of public welfare in the State when such
local board consents to the commitment.

(4) Take custody and commit the child or minor coming within the
provisions of paragraphs (g), (h) and (i) of subsection (1) of § 16.1-158
of this law to the care and custody of the State Board of Welfare and
Institutions if the child’s or minor’s behavior is such that the court deems
it cannot be satisfactorily or adequately dealt with in his own locality
or with its resources. All children intended to be placed in one of the in-
dustrial schools of the State shall be committed to the State Board of
Welfare and Institutions, it being the purpose of this law that the Direc-
tor shall determine which children or minors shall be so placed.

(414) Take custody and * if, after an investigation of the suitability
of such commitment, the court finds that it would be for the best interests
of the child and the State, then the court may, in its discretion, commit the
child or minor to the care and custody of any proper person or persons,
preferring, however, the nearest of kin.

(5) Take custody and commit the child or minor to the care and
custody of a private agency or organization approved and licensed by the
State Board to care for or place children or minors in suitable foster
homes or institutions. No court shall commit a child or minor to an agency
or organization out of the State without the approval of the Director.

(6) Commit the child or minor, if adjudged mentally defective, to
a mental institution, in accordance with the provisions of this law.

(7) Refer or send the child or minor, if fourteen years of age or
older, for proceedings and trial to a court having criminal jurisdiction, in
accordance with the provisions of this law.

(8) In case of traffic violations the court may suspend an operator’s
license or require restitution in accordance with provisions of this law,
or it may impose the penalties which are authorized to be imposed on adults
for such violations.
| (9) As disciplinary measure the court may impose a fine not exceed-
ing fifty dollars upon a child or minor of working age or suspend his
driving permit when such child or minor is found by the court to have
violated the traffic laws of this State or a State or federal law or local
ordinance. All sums so ordered to be paid may be paid by the child or
minor in monthly or weekly installments; such child or minor may also
be required to make restitution or reparation for damages resulting from
his wrongful conduct. ;

(10) Order support of (or) such other care and treatment, medical
or otherwise, as the court deems to be for the best interests of the child
or minor.

Commitment of a child by any court under any of the provisions of
this section shall not per se confer the right upon the receiving agency
to place such child for adoption. If proper studies indicate that it is for
the child’s best interest and that of the State that such child be separated
permanently from its parent, parents or guardian, the order of commit-
ment shall so state either in its original form or by subsequent proper
revision thereof by the court, in which event the agency having custody
of the child shall be free to make such permanent plans for the child as
may otherwise be within the scope of the agency’s authority.

The provisions of this section, insofar as they may affect a local
board of public welfare or other agency in giving consent for the adop-
tion of any child placed in its custody by order of a court, shall not operate
to change or invalidate such consent in any adoption suit pending on July
first, nineteen hundred and sixty, and any consent to adoption which has
has been or may be given by a board of public welfare or other agency
having custody of a child under an order of a court entered on or before
June twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred and sixty, is and shall be valid
in all respects for the purposes of adoption in accordance with the pro-
visions of §§ 63-347 through 63-364 of the Virginia Code.