Welf. & Inst. Code, § 303 · Article 6. Dependent Children—Jurisdiction
Welf. & Inst. Code, § 303
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The court may retain jurisdiction over any person who is found to be a ward or a dependent child of the juvenile court until the ward or dependent child attains 21 years of age.
(b) The court shall have within its jurisdiction any nonminor dependent, as defined in subdivision (v) of Section 11400. The court may terminate its dependency, delinquency, or transition jurisdiction over the nonminor dependent between the time the nonminor reaches the age of majority and 21 years of age. If the court terminates dependency, delinquency, or transition jurisdiction, the nonminor dependent shall remain under the general jurisdiction of the court in order to allow for a petition under subdivision (e) of Section 388.
(c) A nonminor who has not yet attained 21 years of age and who exited foster care at or after the age of majority, may petition the court pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 388 to resume dependency jurisdiction over themselves or to assume transition jurisdiction over themselves pursuant to Section 450.
(d) (1) Nothing in this code, including, but not limited to, Sections 340, 366.27, and 369.5, shall be construed to provide legal custody of a person who has attained 18 years of age to the county welfare or probation department or to otherwise abrogate any other rights that a person who has attained 18 years of age may have as an adult under California law. A nonminor dependent shall retain all of their legal decisionmaking authority as an adult. The nonminor shall enter into a mutual agreement for placement, as described in subdivision (u) of Section 11400, unless the nonminor dependent is incapable of making an informed agreement, or a voluntary reentry agreement, as described in subdivision (z) of Section 11400, for placement and care in which the nonminor consents to placement and care in a setting supervised by, and under the responsibility of, the county child welfare services department, the county probation department, or Indian tribe, tribal organization, or consortium of tribes that entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 10553.1.
(2) A nonminor dependent who remains under delinquency jurisdiction in order to complete their rehabilitative goals and is under a foster care placement order is not required to complete the mutual agreement as described in subdivision (u) of Section 11400. Their adult decisionmaking authority may be limited by and subject to the care, supervision, custody, conduct, and maintenance orders as described in Section 727.
(e) Unless otherwise specified, the rights of a dependent child and the responsibilities of the county welfare or probation department, or tribe, and other entities, toward the child and family, shall also apply to nonminor dependents.
(f) The court shall assume transition jurisdiction pursuant to Section 450 over a person notwithstanding a court order vacating or dismissing the underlying adjudication pursuant to Section 236.14 of the Penal Code or Section 782 of this code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 782, Sec. 2. (SB 1161) Effective January 1, 2025.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC§ionNum=303.
- Text hash
- sha256 6fc5c42ad51b09616acb772673c41d34276d98a1992cdd8cb0c5bb76a4fca5f8
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Welfare and Institutions Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 340Printed as Sections 340, 366.27, and 369.5
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.27Printed as Sections 340, 366.27, and 369.5
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 369.5Printed as Sections 340, 366.27, and 369.5
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 388Printed as Section 388
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 450Printed as Section 450
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 727Printed as Section 727
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 782Printed as Section 782 of this code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 10553.1Printed as Section 10553.1
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 11400Printed as Section 11400
Cited by 9 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Welf. & Inst. Code, § 303. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Welfare and Institutions Code
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 17.1Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 361.23Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 362Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.31Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.32Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 388Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 607.2Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 727Printed as Section 303
- Welf. & Inst. Code, § 727.13Printed as Section 303
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.