Restrictions on discharge; petition for discharge; causes for discharge; superintendent to be notified; notice of variation of order; denial on one petition not a bar to another

§ 21–1113. Restrictions on discharge; petition for discharge; causes for discharge; superintendent to be notified; notice of variation of order; denial on one petition not a bar to another (a) A feeble-minded person admitted to the District Training School pursuant to an order of court may not be discharged therefrom except as provided by this section, but the right of petition for the writ of habeas corpus may not be abridged. (b) After the admission of a feeble-minded person pursuant to an order of court provided by this chapter, a relative or friend of the feeble-minded person, or a reputable citizen, or the superintendent of the institution, or the Department of Public Welfare, may petition the court that entered the order of admission to discharge the feeble-minded person, or to vary the order of the court admitting him to the institution. (c) When, on the hearing of a petition filed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the court is satisfied that the welfare of the feeble-minded person or of other persons or of the community requires his discharge or a variation of the order, it may enter an order of discharge or variation as it deems proper. (d) Discharges and variations of orders may be ordered or made if: (1) the person adjudged to be feeble-minded is not feeble-minded; or (2) the person has so far improved as to be capable of caring for himself; or (3) the relatives or friends of the feeble-minded person are able and willing to supervise, control, care for, and support him, and request his discharge, and, in the judgment of the Superintendent of the District Training School, evil consequences are not likely to follow the discharge. (e) The enumeration of grounds of discharge or variation by subsection (d) of this section does not exclude other grounds of discharge or variation which the court deems adequate, having regard for the welfare of the person concerned or of other persons or of the community. 79 Stat. 771 (f) On a petition for discharge or variation filed pursuant to this section, the court may discharge the feeble-minded person from all supervision, control, and care, or make such variation of the order as to maintenance as the court deems fit under all the circumstances appearing at the hearing of the petition. (g) The Superintendent of the District Training School shall be notified of the time and place of hearing on a petition for discharge or variation filed pursuant to this section, as the court directs, and an order of discharge or variation may not be entered without giving the Superintendent a reasonable opportunity to be heard. The court, may notify such other persons, relatives, and friends of the feeble-minded person as it deems proper, of the time and place .of the hearing on the petition. (h) A person may not be charged with any greater degree of financial responsibility for the support of a feeble-minded person by variation of the order as to maintenance without notice and a reasonable opportunity to lie heard. (i) The denial of one petition for discharge or variation is not a bar to another petition on the same or different ground filed within a reasonable time thereafter, the reasonable time to be determined by the court in its discretion, discouraging frequent, repeated, frivolous, ill-founded petitions for discharge or variation of a prior order.