When Child Protection Comes
Idaho Code § 16-1608 and Idaho Code § 16-1615 — removal without an order only in danger, and a hearing within forty-eight hours
Only in danger. A peace officer may take a child into shelter care without a court order only where the child is endangered in their surroundings and prompt removal is needed to prevent serious physical or mental injury, or where the child has been abandoned.
Forty-eight hours. A child taken that way may be held at most forty-eight hours, not counting weekends and holidays, unless a shelter care hearing is held and the court orders an adjudicatory hearing.
Each parent or custodian from whom the child was taken gets notice of the shelter care hearing at least twenty-four hours before it, with its time, place and purpose and the right to a lawyer. A parent may ask to continue the hearing for a reasonable time.
A neglected child is one without the parental care, food, medical care or control needed for their well-being because of what the parents did or failed to do. Choosing prayer in place of medical treatment is not neglect for that reason alone.
The notice of the shelter care hearing tells the parent of the right to a lawyer. A particular case is a question for a licensed Idaho attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- Idaho Code § 16-1608 — Emergency removal
- Idaho Code § 16-1615 — Shelter care hearing
- Idaho Code § 16-1602 — Definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Idaho attorney.