Participants tab: Dependency Petition

This tab is used to identify the individuals and organizations, known as participants, that are the interested parties on Common Pleas court cases. Upon reaching this tab, the list of participants must be established or reviewed for accuracy. This is especially important for any participant in the role of Child.

Children and Youth Services (CYS)

In PACFile, each county's CYS office is automatically identified as the filer of each new dependency case. For the person completing the filing process, this may or may not coincide with the organization they represent. If creating multiple dependency cases at the same time, one instance of this CYS participant record appears for each participant in the role of Child. No additions or changes should be necessary for this participant.

 

 

Editing the Child participant

The contact and demographic information related to any participant in the role of Child, regardless of how they were added through the Select Cases screen, should be edited or reviewed for accuracy. Clicking the View/Edit icon to the right of these participants displays this information in the Add/Edit Participant popup screen. If a reference case was used to identify the child, some details may appear in this popup automatically. Alternatively, if the child was entered manually through the Children for New Cases grid on the Select Cases screen, the Add/Edit Participant popup will contain no information other than the child's name and role.

Many of the details recorded in the Contact Information and Demographic Information tabs for the child play an important part in creating the Dependency cover page that is generated through the Filing Documents tab of the wizard. The following details from the Add/Edit Participant popup, when available, are recorded on the cover page by PACFile automatically:

Contact Information tab: First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Generation, Phone 1, Phone 2, Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, City, State, and Zip Code.

Demographic Information tab: Date of Birth, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.

 

 

Adding family members, guardians, and other participants

The child is the central participant on any Dependency case, but certainly not the only one. Parents, legal guardians, and siblings are individuals that typically figure prominently on this case type. Consequently, it is necessary to identify family members and other individuals with relevant ties to the child.

If a reference case was identified in the Select Cases screen, some of these participants may appear in the Participants tab automatically. If this is the case, click the Edit Record icon that appears to right of each participant and review the corresponding details in the Add/Edit Participant popup screen for accuracy. If a participant displays that has no bearing on the new case, click the corresponding Delete icon to remove them.

Alternatively, if no reference cases were identified in the Select Cases screen, all applicable participants must be entered manually. Complete the following steps to add a participant:

1.	Click the Add Participant icon . This action displays the Add/Edit Participant popup screen, which features several tabs used for recording information about the participant.
2.	In the Contact Information tab, enter the name of the participant in the First Name and Last Name fields. The Middle Name can be entered if known.
3.	Click on the Role dropdown and select the appropriate option for the new participant.
4.	If known, enter the home address of the participant using the following fields: Address Line 1, Address Line 2 (as needed), Address Line 3 (as needed), City, State, and Zip Code.
5.	If known, enter the phone number(s) for the participant in the Phone Number 1 and Phone Number 2 fields.
6.	Click on the Demographic Information tab and enter any available information about the participant. None, some, or all the fields can be populated. Entering a Date of Birth is suggested when it's known.
7.	Click on the Identifying Information tab and enter any available information about the participant. None, some, or all of the fields can be populated.
8.	Click SAVE to add the participant to the case.
9.	Repeat Steps 1-9, as needed, to record additional participants.
10.	After all participants have been entered, click NEXT to proceed to the Counsel tab.

Note: Steps 4-7 are optional, but if you want any of this information to appear on the Dependency cover page, which is created in the Filing Documents tab, these steps must be completed. This information cannot be typed into the cover page later.