In the Matter of the Petition of H.A.L.,, Minn.Ct.App., 4/1/2013. The juvenile court adjudicated Ms. H.A.L. for something to do with a burglary. A year or so later, the court discharged her, whereupon H.A.L. filed a petition to expunge her record. H.A.L. wanted to go into either nursing or physical therapy but she neglected to serve her papers on the one agency that could stop her plans cold: the Department of Human Services. The court heard the petition and ordered that DHS seal its records.
DHS cried foul, relying on this statutory provision:
Notwithstanding expungement by a court, the commissioner may consider information obtained from juvenile courts as part of a background study for any individual applying to work in a licensed program or from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension], unless the commissioner received notice of the petition for expungement and the court order for expungement is directed specifically to the commissioner.
Minn.Stat. 245C.08, subd. 1(b). The court of appeals concludes that this section trumps the more generalized statutory discretion of district courts to expunge juvenile adjudications “when it deems such action advisable.” Minn.Stat. 260B.198, subd. 6. The court sent the case back to let DHS have its say; after that, if the court wants to order DHS to seal its records it’s free to do just that.
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