My child was arrested — what happens next?

The sequence moves faster than most parents expect.

Intake and screening. DJJ conducts an assessment, and a risk assessment score drives whether your child is held in secure detention, non-secure detention, or released to you at home.

Detention hearing within 24 hours. A judge reviews probable cause and the risk score and decides on placement. Counsel is appointed if you can't retain someone.

The filing decision. The State Attorney's office decides whether to file a petition in juvenile court, offer diversion, decline, or — in qualifying cases — file the case in adult court. This often happens within the first 21 days, and it is the single most consequential decision in the case.

That timing is why involving counsel immediately matters more in juvenile cases than almost anywhere else. Once a case is filed in adult court, the consequences are permanent in ways described below.

Tell your child not to discuss the case — not with friends, not on recorded calls, not on social media.