The Illinois Supreme Court requires that parents be served notice of the court proceedings against their child before the trial court has jurisdiction to proceed to adjudication. Although it is possible to require a parent's presence at proceedings, notice is the minimal requirement for the court. One concern in having the parents appear before the court is the determination of their ability to pay counsel. Requiring parents to pay counsel may be an incentive for them to exercise more parental supervision in preventing further delinquency. Regarding juvenile court personnel, the general practice is to use the court positions as a training ground for the inexperienced or as punishment. Administrators have not made an effort to retain specially trained, experienced personnel. The detention decisions of the court are governed by statutory standards, and the court has taken the initiative in pressing parents to assume supervisory responsibility for their children in lieu of detention. Should parents fail to do this, the juvenile who does not qualify for detention is released to a child welfare agency. Although recent programmatic developments have expanded alternatives to juvenile incarceration, incarceration of juveniles continues to increase. Overall, the Cook County Juvenile Court is evolving toward a parallel to the adult system with erratically conceived services designed to meet crisis situations.