Senate Bill 265 (SB265 Engrossed) introduces amendments to the Code of Alabama 1975, specifically focusing on juvenile courts and the handling of juvenile offenders. The bill mandates that the Department of Youth Services must reimburse county detention facilities for housing children once they have been ordered into the custody of the Department. It revises the conditions for detaining status offenders, federal wards, nonoffenders, and children of specific age groups, detailing the circumstances and durations for which status offenders can be detained and clarifying exceptions to the prohibition of detaining individuals under 18 in adult jails. The bill also requires the Department of Youth Services to develop a statewide system of juvenile detention facilities and subsidize the detention of children up to half the average cost, subject to legislative appropriations. Additionally, it outlines various dispositions available to the juvenile court, including probation and transferring legal and physical custody to appropriate departments.

The bill further specifies that the juvenile probation officer must continue providing case management to the status offender unless another case manager is appointed, and participate in team meetings. It allows local agencies or qualified individuals to assume the care of the child and mandates that the parent or guardian must act in the child's best interests. The juvenile court is given discretion to make orders for the child's welfare, including drug screening and restitution, with the principles of restitution aligning with the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure. The bill also states that when a child is adjudicated delinquent for possessing certain firearms, those firearms must be forfeited and destroyed. It ensures that all federal funding eligibility requirements are met when custody is given to the Department of Human Resources and provides guidelines for determining whether a child in need of supervision is amenable to treatment or rehabilitation. The bill removes the requirement for juvenile probation officers to provide written recommendations for commitment to the Department of Mental Health and modifies the timeline for the Department of Youth Services to accept a child for commitment, with provisions for reimbursement to the county commission for expenses. The act is set to become effective on October 1, 2024.