We granted the State’s application for a discretionary appeal to consider whether a juvenile court’s order removing B. K., a child, from the custody of the Georgia Department of Human Services, but requiring the Department to continue to make random checks of the child at the home of the new custodian, was in violation of former OCGA § 15-11-55 c and d.1 Because the juvenile court did not have authority to order the Department to make such visits after the child was removed from its custody, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
We review a juvenile court’s application of law to undisputed facts de novo. See In the Interest of N. C., 293 Ga. App. 374, 375 n. 4 667 SE2d 181 2008. The record shows that B. K. was born on November 11, 2007, in the physical and legal custody of his biological father. In a shelter care order filed on July 27, 2012, the Hart County juvenile court noted the arrest of the father and his girlfriend not the child’s mother for possession of methamphetamines, which were found in the home, awarded temporary physical custody of the child to the Department, and approved placement in foster care. At the 72-hour hearing on July 30, 2012, the child’s paternal grandfather proposed that he get custody of the child, and the juvenile court ordered a home study. On August 6, 2012, the Department filed a deprivation petition and moved for the appointment of a guardian ad litem. The petition alleged that the child came into the Department’s custody after the father and his girlfriend were arrested on charges of methamphetamine possession and incarcerated in Hart County. The child’s mother’s whereabouts were not known to the Department. On August 17, 2012, the juvenile court found probable cause to conclude that the child was deprived and again confirmed the award of temporary custody to the Department.