Legal actions are managed at the case level. Legal action management typically includes requesting a hearing via a legal petition, conducting the hearing, and making a determination from the hearing. A hearing determination may result in a legal order.
For example, the organization receives a report about an abandoned child who is found wandering the streets crying. A case worker brings the child to the organization office and finds out that his name is Harry and he does not know his father's name. Harry tells the case worker that he was staying with his mother Kate who left him alone and went out with his uncle. The organization is unable to locate the child's mother. In the process, it locates Harry's aunt who lives in the neighboring state. The aunt is willing to take Harry and the organization deems this to be the most appropriate course of action. The organization submits a temporary custody petition for Aunt Alice with the court. The court schedules a temporary custody hearing for next day as a result of the petition. Both legal actions are recorded by the organization and associated with one another.
Note that the process for managing legal actions is fully flexible and can be customized according to the organization's requirements. For example, a legal order can be created directly from a legal petition without the organization having to create a legal hearing in between. This chapter provides an overview of legal petition, legal hearing, and legal order management.