If you have a Juvenile Court record, it is very important that you have it sealed. Your Juvenile Court record can impact your ability to get a job. Employers prefer to hire people who have not gotten in trouble with the law. Also, having a Juvenile Court record can affect your ability to care for a sibling who is still in foster care. Social workers and courts prefer to place children with relatives who do not have a criminal history.
If you have gotten in trouble with the law, it’s not too late to get back on the right track! Sealing your Juvenile Court records is a great first step towards a fresh new start. When court records are sealed, then the Court and others must act as if nothing ever took place. So, if someone asks the Juvenile Court, the probation department, or the District Attorney about a sealed record, then the law requires them to answer, “We have no record of that matter.”
NOTE: Because a juvenile delinquency adjudication is NOT a criminal conviction, if you were asked on a job application whether you were ever convicted of a crime, you can truthfully answer “no” (even if you haven’t yet sealed your records).