Attachment E
National Center for Juvenile and Family Court
Judges Permanency Planning Council
National Center for Juvenile Justice Center on Children and the Law, American Bar Association
Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FAMILY PRESERVATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES PROGRAM INSTRUCTION
| Family Preservation and Support Services is part of the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. It is a new subpart 2 of title
IV-B - - the Child and Family Services program of the Social
Security Act. New Federal funds are provided to State child welfare agencies for preventive services (family support services) and services to families at risk or in crisis (family preservation services). Family support services are primarily community-based preventive activities designed to alleviate stress and promote parental competencies and behaviors that will increase the ability of families to successfully nurture their children; enable families to use other resources and opportunities available in the community; and create supportive networks to enhance child-rearing abilities of parents and help compensate for the increased social isolation and vulnerability of families. Examples of community-based family support services and activities include respite care for parents and other caregivers; early developmental screening of children to assess the needs of these children and assistance in obtaining specific services to meet their needs; mentoring, tutoring, and health education for youth; and a range of center-based activities (informal interactions in drop-in centers, parent support groups) and home visiting programs. Family preservation services typically are services designed to help families alleviate crises that might lead to out of home placement of children; maintain the safety of children in their own homes; support families preparing to reunify or adopt; and assist families in obtaining services and other supports necessary to address their multiple needs in a culturally sensitive manner. (If a child cannot be protected from harm without placement or the family does not have adequate strengths on which to build, family preservation services are not appropriate.) In addition to providing funds for expanding services, this legislation offers States an extraordinary opportunity to assess and make changes in State and local service delivery in child welfare, broadly defined. The purpose of these changes is to achieve improved well-being for vulnerable children and their families. Because the multiple needs of children and families cannot be addressed adequately through categorical programs and fragmented service delivery systems, we encourage States to use this new funding as a catalyst for establishing a continuum of coordinated and integrated, culturally relevant, family-focused services for children and families. The legislation requires States to engage in a comprehensive planning process for the development of a meaningful and responsive family support and family preservation strategy. To take full advantage of the opportunity for comprehensive planning, the scope of planning should go beyond child welfare to include housing, mental health, primary health, education, juvenile justice, community-based programs providing family support and family preservation services, and other social programs that serve children and their families in the State and its communities. Consumers, practitioners, researchers, foundations, mayors, and legislators are some of the stakeholders who should be active in the planning process. Federal regional staff will also serve as partners in planning. FY 1994 funds are available following the submittal and approval of a State application. Guidance for this application is included in the Program Instruction. It is expected that States will spend their FY 1994 allotment up to $1 million for planning and development of the five year State plan for FY 1995- 1999. States may also spend some of their FY 1994 allotment for services. FY 1995 funds are available following the submittal and approval of a comprehensive five year State plan. The attached Program Instruction offers preliminary guidance for the five year plan. Formal instructions for completing the plan will be provided in regulations to be published in 1994 (summer/fall). We recognize that the Federal government can facilitate coordination of programs and the development of a continuum of care at the State and local level. As a first step, we have reached an agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the Center for Mental Health Services so that States and communities who include programs operating under the public health service agency and the mental health agency in their planning for family support and family preservation may qualify for additional discretionary funding from these two programs. In addition, we plan to develop a combined State plan for Title IV-B Subpart 1, Title IV-B Subpart 2, and the Independent Living Program. Other suggestions for ways in which the Federal government can facilitate coordination at the State and local level are welcome. For additional information, please contact (1) your State child welfare agency; (2) your Federal regional office (contact information included at Attachment F); or (3) the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (202/205-8347). Prepared by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, January 1994. NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS The National Center for State Courts is the central resource serving all State court systems and individual appellate and trial courts. A non-profit corporation founded in 1971, the National Center is controlled by the State courts, exclusively serving their needs. The work of the National Center is conducted by some 150 employees, representing a variety of professions who are assisted, as necessary, by skilled consultants. The multidisciplinary staff allows the National Center to assist State courts from a variety of perspectives and to provide comprehensive and effective solutions to their problems. The National Center for State Courts works in four broad areas: (1) direct expert assistance; (2) research; (3) education, training and information services; and (4) government relations. Direct expert assistance. Individual courts or court systems may contact the National Center for help in any area of operations, for example, to evaluate court programs or procedures, to plan or implement court improvement projects, to review facility needs, to conduct management audits, or to advise on automation. Direct expert assistance is provided through the National Center's Courts Services Division in Denver, Colorado; for more information contact Gwendolyn Lyford at (303) 293-3063. Research. The National Center's applied research projects develop information to support more effective management of State Courts by identifying the underlying issues in court management, designing and testing possible solutions to problems, and demonstrating improved methods of operation. Areas of research include: caseflow management and delay reduction; state court caseload statistics related to foster care and adoptions; development and evaluation of program process and outcome measures; domestic violence court initiatives; alternative dispute resolution; and, automated court case management information systems. Information about the State courts' organization and caseload is collected, analyzed, and published to provide a current picture of their operations. Court research services are provided through the National Center's Research Division in Williamsburg, Virginia; for more information contact Victor Flango at (804) 253-2000. Information, Education and Training. The National Center's library, clearinghouse, and information services provide timely, up-to- date responses to requests for information on all aspects of State court operations. The National Center's Institute for Court Management provides specialized courses for judges, court administrators, managers, clerks and other judicial branch employees. The Institute's workshops, seminars, and conferences address critical issues facing State Courts. Education, training and information services are provided through the National Center's Institute for Court Management in Williamsburg, Virginia; for more information contact Brenda Jones at (804) 253-2000 Government Relations. The National Center's Office of Government Relations assists the leaders of the State Judicial Systems with developing a policy agenda for state courts on national issues. Government relations staff support the efforts of the Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators and other state court associations, to develop and disseminate their national policy agendas before the Federal government and other national and state organizations. The National Center's Office of Government Relations is located in Arlington, Virginia. For more information on Federal legislation, regulations, and national policy impacting State courts, contact Maria Schmidt at (703) 841-0200. The National Center for State Courts Headquarters 300 Newport Avenue Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8798 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JUDGES PERMANENCY PLANNING PROJECT The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) has been in the forefront of issues pertaining to juveniles and families since 1937. The NCJFCJ brings together the nation's jurists to provide direction on the course of juvenile and family law. Through its biannual National College of Juvenile and Family Law, the NCJFCJ has been the country's leader in continuing education opportunities for judges involved with children, youth and families. Louis W. McHardy serves as the Executive Director of the NCJFCJ and Dean of the National College of Juvenile and Family Law. The NCJFCJ, headquartered in the Midby-Byron National Center for Continuing Judicial Education on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, provides an invaluable service to our nation's juvenile and family jurists. It offers continuing education to judges, referees, probation officers, social workers, law enforcement personnel and other juvenile justice professionals on topics these professionals confront daily. The NCJFCJ also takes the lead in policy development in rapidly changing areas of the law such as child abuse and neglect, family violence, foster care and adoption, custody disputes, school violence, alcohol abuse, the drug epidemic, gangs and serious juvenile crime, as well as other family court issues. The NCJFCJ's Permanency Planning Project provides training and technical assistance to ensure permanent families for children by preventing unnecessary out-of-home placement, reunifying children with their natural families when feasible, and facilitating timely adoption of children unable to return home. The nation's juvenile and family courts have the responsibility for protecting children against abuse and neglect. The courts also are responsible for directing efforts to maintain families or to provide permanent alternative care for child victims. These awesome responsibilities continue to require a large portion of the court's attention, workload and resources as the number of cases of child abuse and neglect grows each year. Public awareness of the tragedy of physical and sexual abuse of children has led to an explosion in court referrals. Until 1980, juvenile and family courts were expected only to determine whether a child had been abused or neglected and, if so, whether the child needed to be removed from home or placed under court or agency supervision. At present, however, courts are expected to make sure a safe, permanent, and stable home is secured for each abused or neglected child. Many juvenile and family courts have neither the ability nor the resources to meet these new demands. Judicial caseloads have risen at the same time the number of issues, hearings, and parties has increased. As a result, in many jurisdictions, the quality of the court process has suffered. To assist court systems in designing and implementing state plans to assess and improve handling of proceedings related to foster care and adoption, the NCJFCJ is developing a comprehensive set of resource guidelines for the juvenile and family courts' handling of abuse and neglect cases. These guidelines will recommend minimum requirements for conducting careful, complete, and fundamentally fair hearings at all stages of court proceedings. The guidelines will address what each hearing should cover, who should be present, and how much time should be allowed for the hearing. A comprehensive training curriculum and technical assistance package, based on the guidelines, are also being developed. For more information, contact: Mary Mentaberry, NCJFCJ, P.O. Box 8970, Reno, NV 89507. Telephone (702) 784-6012 or FAX (702) 784-6628. THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the research division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Since opening in 1973, the Center has established itself as a nationally recognized research center that is responsive on a practical level to the concerns of the juvenile justice system. The Center can provide judges, juvenile court personnel, and child protective agencies with information and consultation services to remedy problems or aid in the administration and effectiveness of juvenile court processing of cases involving both delinquency and abuse and neglect. Specialty areas include: Information Systems: NCJJ has developed significant expertise in assisting courts with information system design specifications; sharing information about successful systems; and improving existing systems. NCJJ is pretesting a needs assessment workbook that courts can use to begin to develop the requirements for an information system that will meet each other court's unique information processing requirements. NCJJ has also developed specifications for a state-of-the-art MIS for dependency proceedings. Statistics: NCJJ can provide statistics relating to decision points in the juvenile justice system. These figures can be used to compare your court to other courts. National statistics can be utilized for comparison or as base- line information in speeches, newsletters, and funding proposals. |
Data Utilization:
NCJJ can assist in the design of statistical reports which capture court processing data necessary for program planning and evaluation. We can also provide examples of operational and annual reports.
Probation:
NCJJ has developed a desktop guide to good juvenile probation practice and a training curriculum for new juvenile probation officers. The Center routinely responds to requests from probation officers for information about specialized probation functions, case classification, and program descriptions. Legal Research: NCJJ has developed an invaluable tool for conducting statutes analyses - the Automated Juvenile Law Archive. The law archive has been used to update existing analyses and to generate new analyses. The word search capacity is ideal for collecting sample statutes and analyzing issues across the fifty states.
Court Administration and Program Development:
NCJJ is also a resource for questions concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of juvenile court processing, administrative and policy issues, and appropriate responses to difficult court populations.
Consultation Services:
NCJJ is a resource for program evaluation and planning in the larger juvenile justice community. These services are usually provided in response to a request for proposal and are frequently long- term. For more information, please contact Richard Gable, National Center for Juvenile Justice, 701 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 227- 6950
THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
The American Bar Association is the largest professional association in the United States, including more than 365,000 attorneys, judges, court administrators and other allied professionals. Since its inception over one hundred years ago, the ABA has taken an active interest in the improvement of the administration of justice and the judicial process. In recent years, it has focused intensively on the handling of child maltreatment cases by the courts.
The ABA Center on Children and the Law, located in Washington D.C., provides technical assistance, education, training, and policy analysis regarding the performance of the legal system in the lives of children. A principal mission of the Center is the improvement of court proceedings affecting child abuse and neglect and children in foster care. The Center originated the concept of grants to state courts to improve foster care litigation and played a leading role in the development of the legislation that created the grants. The ABA Center on Children and the Law can provide assistance in the implementation of the new grants to state courts in a number of ways. It can assist state courts to perform the first year self- assessment. Toward that end, the Center is already in the process of developing, with the Support of the State Justice Institute, sample questionnaires and other tools for self-evaluation. It can assist state courts to plan for the assessment, prepare tools, conduct assessments, analyze the results, and prepare plans for improvement. After the completion of the assessment phase, it can assist with implementation of changes by assisting with planning, helping to develop new policies and rules, drafting legislation, providing training, and serving as liaison with bar organizations. The Center can assist child welfare agencies, state advocacy organizations, citizen reviewers, legislators, and others to contribute to the assessment and court improvement efforts. It can help them to:
- identify and articulate court performance issues,
- document the financial impact of court practices,
- identify and provide data to assist with court selfassessments,
- provide constructive suggestions for court self-improvement plans, and
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support the courts' efforts at self-improvement including through legislation. In addition, the Center can help states to consider the impact of court performance on the children themselves.
The Center has led the effort toward court reform in child abuse and neglect and foster care cases. Center staff have visited every state and are familiar with the variations of state law and practice througout the country. In addition to numerous legal projects on a wide range of issues related to foster care, it conducted nationwide studies of judicial involvement in foster care cases in 1983-1984 and 1985-1986; prepared a series of monographs and articles on the topic from 1983 through 1994; prepared a book of sample court rules in 1985; conducted the first in-depth state and local studies of court performance in child abuse and neglect cases in 1988 and 1992; and published a book on court-agency relations in 1993.
For further information, contact: Mark Hardin Director, Foster Care and Family Preservation ABA Center on Children and the Law 1800 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: (202) 331-2675 Fax: (202) 331-2225
Attachments:
Attachment
A: Estimated State Court Allotments for FY
1995-98
Attachment B: Portions
of P.L. 103-66 and Congressional Conference Reports
Attachment C: Standard
Form 424 and 424-A, and Certification Forms
- Instructions for Form 424 and 424-A - (Link will open in another browser window).
