The court can issue a restraining order to protect a minor from ongoing violence or in cases where there’s an actual threat of violence. The minor for whom protection is being sought is referred to as a protected person, while the person who poses a threat is the ‘restrained person’ or ‘respondent’.

A court order issued to protect a minor is called a juvenile restraining order, and it gives protection for up to 3 years. During this period, the restrained person is prohibited from doing the following:

• Harassing, molesting, stalking, assaulting or injuring the protected person
• Keeping the protected person under surveillance or interfering with movement
• Establishing contact physically or through other means
• Harassing the protected person at work, school or at home
• Owning a gun

You can apply for a juvenile restraining order if you are related to the minor either as a parent, guardian, caregiver, social worker or probation officer, a special advocate appointed by the court, a close relation or if you are anyone with a special interest in the child

Filling and filing the forms

To get a juvenile restraining order, you need to complete the forms listed below:

• CLETS-001-Confidential CLETS Information
• JV-245-Request for Restraining Order-Juvenile
• JV-250-Restraining Order-Juvenile

You can get help from your attorney on how to fill these forms, or from the self-help center at the court where you will be filing the petition. After you fill in the forms, file them at the juvenile Division Clerk’s office

Enforcing the restraining order

A juvenile restraining order lasts for 3 years. If the juvenile restraining order is issued by the juvenile court, it will expire on the date shown on the front page of the restraining order, whether or not the case is still open by that date. You have to go through the family court in order to modify the order.

The restrained person needs to be notified of the restraining order. However, if the restrained person can prove that he or she did not know of the restraining order, then the court cannot prosecute him or her. For instance, the restrained person could have contact with the protected child in the streets and still not get prosecuted.

Though juvenile restraining orders are enforceable in all states, you still cannot guarantee that all the states’ law enforcement offices are aware of the restraining order being in place or that they have it on their computers. For this reason, it’s important to always have a copy of the restraining order with you to show to law enforcement officers.

Law enforcement offices within California are notified of the restraining order through the California Law Enforcement Telecommunication System (CLETS). CLETS streamlines the communication process, meaning that you don’t need to go to your local jurisdiction to inform them that a restraining order is in place.

If there are any criminal restraining orders in place, their orders will undermine the orders of the juvenile restraining order. This is the case even though the criminal restraining order is older than the juvenile restraining order.