This new brief presents a conceptual model that shows how aspects of the child welfare court process relate to case outcomes for children and families. This model can help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers better understand the child welfare court process … Read More
Judges
Compendium of Measures and Data Sources: Understanding Judicial Decision-Making and Hearing Quality in Child Welfare
Understanding Judicial Decision-Making and Hearing Quality in ChildWelfare The child welfare court process is intended to help protect abused and neglected children, encourage family stability, support child well-being, and provide children who enter the foster care system with a safe … Read More
Determining the Best Interests of the Child
Courts make a variety of decisions that affect children, including placement and custody determinations, safety and permanency planning, and proceedings for termination of parental rights. Whenever a court makes such a determination, judges must weigh whether the decision will be … Read More
Why Relative Placement Is Best for a Child in Need of Care
While a foster home can care for a child, there are often many relatives willing to step up, and there is no comparison to the benefits of a family’s love and connection. By Avery Alexson Guidry Child in Need of … Read More
Five Ways to Serve Youth Through the Family First Prevention Services Act
A recent brief from the Center for the Study of Social Policy details five opportunities within the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) of 2018 for states to build a prevention continuum that focuses on healthy adolescent development. The brief also aims … Read More
How Judges Can Support Family Reunification through Parent–Resource Parent Partnerships
Something profound happens when parents and resource parents work together and support one another during child welfare system involvement. The parent knows the person who is caring for their child and feels supported while working towards reunification. The resource parent … Read More
Supporting School Stability for Children in Foster Care during COVID-19 and Beyond
As a judge overseeing child welfare cases, you play a critical role ensuring children and youth in foster care are staying on track and making progress in school. Federal law prioritizes education stability for these children and mandates coordination by … Read More
Supporting Remote Family Time During the Pandemic and Beyond: The Judge’s Role
This Judge’s Action Alert highlights: trends in use of remote family time by the legal child welfare community during the pandemic; benefits and drawbacks of using remote family time approaches; keys to effective remote family time; how judges can support remote family … Read More
Louisiana CINC Benchbook
The Court Improvement Program of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Louisiana Judicial College, and Pelican Center for Children and Families is delighted to announce the publication of the Louisiana Child in Need of Care Benchbook for Juvenile Judges. The Benchbook project is a … Read More
CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEWS: How Judges, Court Administrators and Attorneys Should Be Involved
CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEWS: How Judges, Court Administrators and Attorneys Should Be Involved The Children’s Bureau within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families conducts Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) in all States periodically to ensure conformity with Federal child welfare requirements, to gauge … Read More