Please tell me I haven't been misleading my officers. If a juvenile who is or is not in custody is being questioned must the parents be allowed to be present if they request to be?Sorry but I can't make Lexus work for me. The question stems from 52.025(c)Tex.Fam.Code

Sharon is the expert on this but here is what I know.
Glover v. State held that a a magistrate is not required to call parents prior to statement and the law does not require that a child be allowed to talk to a parent prior to giving a statement.
In Re HV held that a juvi that asked to talk to his mother so she could get him an attorney was an ambiguous request for counsel.
In the matter of CR says a child has the right to have parent in juvenile processing office.
In light of the above I tell my officers that if the child wants his parent, they should facilitate that but nothing in the law allows the parent to invoke that right for the child (ie mommy show up and demands to see the kid-no reason to comply)
Now there is a judge in San Antonio that teaches at the juvi conferences that 61.03 gives the parent the RIGHT to be in the processing office at all times but I don't read it that way. I think they have the right to communicate with the kid at reasonable times but not at all times while they are in the JPO.
Just MHO, I guess time will tell on that one.

I agree with Stacey. I do not think that the parents are entitled to be present, even upon their request. They must be timely notified that the child is in custody or detention, nothing more. I also think that the parent is not entitled to invoke the right of counsel for the child. That is how I have been teaching the local officers.

Thank you both. I thought I had told them wrong . I think I have Judge here who would also like to require the parents to be present but that's just because he's still a defendse attorney at heart.I need to check this sight more often. I forget that you guys are separated from the rest of the group.

Parents have many rights arising from the Family Code and the Constitution, but being present while a child confesses is not one of them.

Although there is considerable oversight by others when a child is being interrogated while in custody, none of those laws give the parent the right to interfere with the questioning or end it by invoking any rights on behalf of the child.

There is even less oversight when the child is questioned out of custody, which is why we teach and encourage law enforcement to question suspects out of custody.

A couple of years ago, a child even asked the US Supreme Court to adopt a more expansive interpretation of the concept of custody for children. Rejected. It remains the reasonable person standard, not the subjective teenager's standard.

Of course, there always seems to be some judge who wants to impose their own personal standard on their community. But it ain't the law.

Be sure to check out TDCAA's books on juvenile law and confessions. Lots of good cites to support your arguments.