In re Valerie H.

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

The question presented in this case is whether a juvenile court order discharging a local department of social services from further custodial responsibility over a child also serves to terminate the juvenile court’s continuing jurisdiction over that child.

I

When Valerie H. was five years old, the Department of Social Services for Baltimore City (DSS) petitioned the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, sitting as a juvenile court, to have her adjudged a “child in need of assistance” (CIÑA).1 DSS alleged that Valerie’s father’s absence and her mother’s narcotic addiction…