The mission of the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families is to strengthen courts for children, youth and families in the Texas child-protection system and thereby improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children.
The state of Texas is the legal parent to some 30,000 children because of allegations of abuse or neglect. Courts play a critical role in determining their future, because once lawsuits alleging abuse or neglect are filed, courts become the ultimate arbiter of what happens to these children.
No child enters or leaves foster care without a court order. A judge decides where the child will live, with whom, and for how long. Every day, Texas courts decide whether a child goes home or to a relative, visits a sibling, or becomes legally free for adoption. Too often, Texas courts lack the resources necessary to make good decisions.
Although many organizations and individuals across the state share a commitment to improving our child-welfare system, until the Supreme Court of Texas created the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families last year, no multidisciplinary entity existed at such a high level to coordinate and implement comprehensive efforts to improve child protection courts. The Commission will work toward ensuring better outcomes for children and families involved in the child-protection system.
The Supreme Court gave the Commission the following nine directives:
- develop a strategic plan for strengthening courts and court practice in the child-protection system;
- identify and assess current and future needs for the courts to be more effective in achieving child-welfare outcomes of safety, permanency, well-being, fairness and due process;
- promote best practices and programs that are data-driven, evidence-based, and outcome-focused;
- improve collaboration and communication among courts, the Department, attorneys, and partners in the child-protection community;
- endeavor to increase resources and funding needed for improvement, and maximize the wise and efficient use of available resources;
- promote adequate and appropriate training for all participants in the child-protection system;
- institutionalize a collaborative model that will continue systemic improvement beyond the tenure of individual Commission members;
- oversee the administration of designated funds, including the Court Improvement Program (CIP) grants; and
- provide an annual progress report to the Court.
The Commission exists to improve the judicial handling of child-protection cases systemically through improvements in technology, attorney and judicial training, and court improvement pilot projects. It has no authority over state agencies or their operational details and does not discuss or consider specific, active cases. The Commission seeks information about systemic improvement through the Commission's Collaborative Council and other interested parties. For questions or more information, email staff at children@courts.state.tx.us.
To contact Commission Staff, click this email link.
To be placed on a stakeholder contact list for the Court Improvement Program, send an email to Commission for Children, or create your own email to that address with the word "SUBSCRIBE" in the Subject box.
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Updated: 24-Aug-2009
