Delivering on the Promise: Promoting Court Capacity to Improve Outcomes for
Abused and Neglected Children A Primer for Policymakers May 2007
 Download PDF Version (64 page document)
To view PDF files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader. By Susan Robison In the child welfare system, courts play a pivotal but often overlooked role in ensuring children's safety, permanency and well-being. State legislators now have an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and support the courts. Strong commitment of state judicial leaders, a rich body of court experience, growing consensus about the need for court reform, and new federal funding provide conditions that are conducive to reform. Through policy, budgetary and oversight activities, legislators can help to ensure that courts are able to fulfill their responsibilities to children and the general public. Executive Summary In the child welfare system, courts play a pivotal but often overlooked role in ensuring children’s safety, permanency and well-being. Court decisions determine the future for children who are abused or neglected, including whether they remain with their biological families or become wards of the state; how long they will remain in the system; and mental health and other special treatment to which they are entitled. However, courts that hear child welfare cases face tremendous challenges, such as staggering workloads, lack of judicial expertise, inadequate collaboration with child welfare agencies, and poor data and accountability systems. State legislators now have an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen and support the courts. Strong commitment of state judicial leaders, a rich body of court experience, growing consensus about the need for court reform, and new federal funding provide conditions that are conducive for reform. Through policy, budgetary and oversight activities, legislators can help to ensure that courts are able to fulfill their responsibilities to children and to the public trust. This report presents background information about courts that hear child dependency cases and identifies potential state legislative strategies to promote judicial accountability and greater collaboration with child welfare agencies. Opportunities for Improving Performance and Collaboration Recent developments provide an opportunity for state legislators to boost the performance of courts and the child welfare system. In 2004, the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care released an influential set of recommendations for strengthening dependency courts, focusing on collaboration among courts, agencies and tribes; the use of multidisciplinary commissions; cross-systems training; and implementation of performance standards, among other things. Based on these recommendations, Congress expanded the federal Court Improvement Program in 2005 to include new funding for training, data collection and data analysis. Federal funding and oversight of state child welfare systems now include new requirements for collaboration. Following the lead of the Pew Commission, a number of states and the District of Columbia have created collaborative bodies to improve court-agency relationships and communication. In 2005, high level teams from 49 states, the District of Columbia and the territories participated in a national judicial summit and developed action plans for improving the lives of children in foster care. Delivering on the Promise, Promoting court capacity to improve outcomes for abused and neglected children Contents - Executive Summary
- Introduction
- The Problem: Courts Under Pressure
- Opportunities for Improving Court Agency Performance and Collaboration
- Court Roles and Organization: Implications for Performance
- Measuring and Improving Court Performance
- Promoting Collaboration Among Courts, Child Welfare Agencies, Tribes and Other Partners
- Conclusion: Improving Court Performance, Oversight and Accountability
- Appendix A: A Child's Journey Through The Child Welfare System
- Appendix B: Structure of State Courts with Child Abuse, Neglect and Dependency Jurisdiction
- Notes
Child Welfare |