Occasionally the appointed office may need to undo an accidental/premature closure, or the Court may officially "reopen" a case. In either scenario, the appointed office can find the closed appointment in Cases > My Appointments: be sure to search using the "Closed" checkbox. Click on the blue case number to edit your office's appointment, and click the blue Reopen Appointment button:
You will see a checklist of child part(ies) on this appointment; check the box by any who were active or in attendance for whatever activities you are going to enter. This removes their Representation End Date; simply add that back later to close the appointment again as usual. (If you do not see a Reopen Appointment button, the appointment is already open.) > Need to re-activate a child on an open appointment?
If the underlying case is also closed in CARES, you will see a question asking "Did the court officially reopen this case?" Simply select the answer that best fits--both answers will reopen your appointment:
- Yes, the court officially reopened this case. -- select this if the Court officially "reopened" this case; will prompt you to enter the date the court did so.
- No, but I need this appointment open (to enter activities, etc.). -- this only reopens the case/appointment in CARES for additional data entry.
If you requested access to another office's appointment and need the appointment reopened so you can finish entering activities, you'll need to contact that office for them to reopen it. Only the appointed office may close and open their appointments.
Why Not Start a New Appointment?
When you reopen your existing appointment as described above, it will behave like it did not end--your dates, child parties, history, notes, activities, etc. will be there for reference and your billing allocation will be intact. You will not have two start dates, you will not have to re-enter child part(ies) and placement(s), and CJD requirements for new cases (such as the D&N 30-day in-placement visit requirement) will not trigger.
If, on the other hand, you click "Create Appointment" on the case to start a completely new appointment for yourself (very rare on the same case), it will behave like any new appointment, requiring you to enter a child party and triggering the D&N 30-day in-placement visit requirement and/or other CJD requirements for new appointments. You will see a "Confirm Duplicate Attorney" warning when you try to appoint yourself a second time to the same case instead of reopening it: "Are you sure you want to create multiple appointments for the same attorney?" In the unusual event that you were previously appointed to this case in error, click "Save Appointment" on this warning message to proceed. (But, usually this message serves to remind you to go back and instead look for your original appointment to reopen using the steps above.)
How to Re-Activate a Child Party on an Open Appointment
If your appointment is already open and does not need to be reopened using the steps above, but you ended a child party, they are visible in the appointment only when you click the "Show inactive children" checkbox on your appointment profile. To make them "active" again, simply click on their name, scroll down in the pop-up, and delete the "Representation End Date" (pictured with the red square and x below where you should delete). Save the child party without any Representation End Date and they will be "active" again: