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Program Descriptions

Court Improvement Project

Introduction

All 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico participate in the federal Court Improvement Program administered by the Children's Bureau of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The grant program was established in 1994 as a response to the dramatic increase in child abuse and neglect cases and the expanded role of courts in achieving stable, permanent homes for children in foster care. Under the original grants the recipients completed a detailed self-assessment, developed recommendations to improve the juvenile court system and worked towards implementing the recommended reforms. The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001 reauthorized the Court Improvement Program through federal fiscal year 2006. The scope of the program is now expanded to (1) include improvements that recipients deem necessary to provide for the safety, well-being and permanence of children in foster care, as set forth in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA); and (2) implement a corrective action plan, as necessary, in response to findings identified in a child and family services review of the State's child welfare system. For more information on Court Improvement Programs nationally, please click here.

California's Court Improvement Project (CIP) is administered by the Center for Families, Children & the Courts at California's Administrative Office of the Courts. The project has been ongoing since 1995, and federal funding has most recently been approved through June 2006.

Assessment and Reassessment

Self-assessment is a central element of each states' Court Improvement Project. California's initial assessment phase took place in 1995-1996 and included a comprehensive review of laws, procedures, and practices related to juvenile dependency cases; public hearings; focus groups; roundtable discussions. Consultants from the National Center for State Courts collected data, both statewide and in selected local courts, and assisted in formulating a plan for improvement. The assessment culminated in the California Court Improvement Project Report released in 1997. The full report This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy. and the executive summary are available through the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law's Web site. The report includes 27 specific recommendations for improving the California courts' handling of cases involving child abuse or neglect, which guided the work of Court Improvement Project staff from 1997 through 2005.

California's CIP completed its Reassessment in June 2005. The full report is available here. The Reassessment is a broad-based study of the juvenile courts in California, which builds on the results of original assessment and the lessons learned in implementing the CIP plan in the intervening years. The final Reassessment report is based on a legal review which focused on California's compliance with federal statutory mandates, and a court system evaluation, which used a variety of research methods to study juvenile courts operations and outcomes. The court system evaluation was made up of statewide surveys of dependency judicial officers, court executive officers, child welfare directors and dependency attorneys and site visits to six courts in California to conduct more in-depth research, including focus groups and interviews of key local stakeholders, and review of data from computerized case management systems. The Reassessment report includes recommendations, which serve as the basis for the current Court Improvement Project strategic plan.

Strategic Plan

The strategic plan that guides California's court improvement reforms is based directly on the recommendations of the 2005 assessment report, and is regularly updated. The most recent revision, the 2005 -2006 strategic plan, is a short term plan based on those recommendations. The 2006-2010 5-year strategic plan will be a more address the Reassessment recommendations in a comprehensive way. Some of the prominent action steps are:

  • Draft model local rules, protocols, forms, court rules, standards, and guidelines.
  • Host the annual Beyond the Bench conference in order to:
    o Implement local court improvement programs;
    o Develop local action plans, protocols, and guidelines;
    o Facilitate statewide information sharing; and
    o Distribute CFCC resource materials.
  • Circulate proposed model rules of court (state and local), protocols, and guidelines.
  • Provide on-site technical assistance and monitoring of Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) requirements through the Judicial Review and Technical Assistance (JRTA) team.
  • Evaluate implementation components and provide periodic reports to the Judicial Council.
  • Offer continuing training and training materials for attorneys, advocates, and in conjunction with the Education Division/Center for Judicial Education and Research, judicial officers in the area of juvenile law.
  • Collaborate with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and other relevant agencies to implement system improvements.

Court Improvement Project Training

Beyond the Bench Conference. Beyond the Bench is an annual, multidisciplinary conference that brings together juvenile dependency and delinquency professionals, including judicial officers, court administrators, child welfare professionals, public defenders, district attorneys, probation officers, educators, mental health professionals, and service providers from many of California's 58 counties to learn about the latest research and best practices with regard to improving juvenile justice and child abuse and neglect proceedings. Participants form local teams, and those teams devise action plans for improving their communities' systems for handling juvenile cases. The conference provides each county team with the opportunity to meet as a group, attend educational workshops, and refine its action plan developed at the previous conference. It allows teams to share both the successes of child welfare and juvenile justice programs and the perspectives of children and youth who have been involved with the juvenile courts. Pre- or Post-conference symposia are offered each year, on topics such as: family violence, language and competency issues in questioning children, and basic dependency law for new practitioners in the field. The conference takes place every December. The next conference will take place in December 2006.

Juvenile Court Centennial Conference. In December 2003, a statewide conference to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the juvenile court in California took place in Los Angeles, which was the site of the first juvenile court in California. The conference was co-sponsored by the Center for Families, Children and the Courts, and the Los Angeles Juvenile Court. Conference presentations covered both dependency and delinquency issues as well as family violence and other "crossover" issues. The Centennial conference took place instead of the Beyond the Bench conference in 2003.

Local, Regional, and Specialty Training. CFCC, through the Court Improvement Project, also assists in putting on various local and regional training events in conjunction with local courts, as well as statewide training events on specialized topics.

Court Improvement Project Training Materials and Resources.

California's CIP, often in collaboration with other CFCC projects, played a role in creating the following training materials and resources.

CFCC Library. A library of books, periodicals, video- and audiotapes, articles, and other materials related to children and families in the court system.

Newsletter. A newsletter, titled Update, which informs judicial officers, attorneys, court professionals, and other interested persons of current issues regarding children and families and provides legislative updates, rules and forms updates, juvenile case law summaries, notices about upcoming CFCC trainings, and other interesting and relevant information.

Self-Help Center. The AOC's Online Self-Help Center. The Self-Help Center, launched in July 2001, contains procedural and substantive information about various areas of the law, including family law, small claims, traffic, guardianships and conservatorships, juvenile law, name changes, elder law, civil harassment, and domestic violence.

Journal of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts. A scholarly journal, the Journal of the Center for Families, Children & the Courts. The Journal is distributed at conferences and to a subscription list of over 3500 juvenile and family court professionals.

Caregiver Pamphlet. Caregivers and the Courts: A Primer on Juvenile Dependency Proceedings for California Foster Parents and Relative Caregivers pamphlet, which has been broadly distributed to caregivers, foster family agencies, social service agencies, and other interested persons, in English and Spanish.

Caregiver Study Final Report. The final report of a study, known as Caregivers and the Courts: Improving Court Decisions Affecting Children in Foster Care, which is the first major research study in the United States regarding participation by foster parents and relative caregivers in the dependency court process under the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). Click here to view the executive summary and the full report.

Children's Activity Book. What's Happening in Court?, a children's activity book. Over 100,000 copies have been distributed in California's courts, schools, and directly to children, in English and Spanish. Interactive and non-interactive versions of the children's activity book, in both English and Spanish are available on CFCC's website. Please click here to access them.

Administrative Desk Book. The Juvenile court desk book, published in early 2004, serves as an informative tool for juvenile court judicial officers, addressing the administrative and program responsibilities of the juvenile court and providing up to date resource information

Compact Disk and other 100th Anniversary Materials. Materials marking the 100th anniversary of the juvenile courts in California, intended to increase pride in, and awareness of, the accomplishments of the state's juvenile courts, include: Stories from Juvenile Court CD, a Children's Art & Poetry Contest and fact sheets on Juvenile Court and Trends over last 100 years.

Other Court Improvement Project Activities
In addition to participating in many CFCC activities described elsewhere on this page, and throughout the CFCC web site that have a nexus with the broad court improvement mission (including the creation and maintenance of this Web site), some additional activities that CIP is involved in are described below.

Court Appointed Counsel Study and DRAFT Program. The Court Appointed Counsel study, completed in June 2004, identifies performance and caseload standards for attorneys appointed to represent parents and children in juvenile dependency cases. The identification and implementation of court-appointed counsel caseload standards will ensure quality attorney service for both children and parents subject to the state's dependency adjudication process. The findings of this study serve as the foundation for the Dependency Representation: Administration, Funding and Training (DRAFT) program, beginning in fiscal year 2004-2005. The DRAFT program is a voluntary, pilot program involving ten courts, in which the responsibility for dependency counsel contract administration will shift from the local courts to the AOC.

Unified Courts for Families (Mentor Court) Program. After a lengthy planning and application process, the Unified Courts for Families Project established and funded six "Mentor Courts" in California in early 2003 and added a seventh court in 2004. The selected courts are either establishing new unified family courts or using the grant to foster the development of already-existing unified family courts. Over a three-year period, these courts will pilot various strategies for the coordination of proceedings involving members of the same family with cases on multiple court calendars. The underlying premises of unified or coordinated family and juvenile court systems are that: (1) a unified or coordinated court is more efficient and effective in addressing the needs of those it serves and the California public; (2) consolidation of related cases before a single judge or judicial team, or a coordinated case management model, will result in more informed and effective decisions, greater consistency and continuity, and improved delivery of services to children and families; (3) the risk of conflicting orders and multiple court appearances by the parties will be reduced; and (4) the safety and accountability of all participants will be enhanced. For more information, click here.

The Unified Courts for Families Program recently published the Unified Courts for Families Deskbook, a resource for judicial officers and other court and court-connected staff involved in implementing unification or coordination.

CASA/Attorney Collaboration Demonstration Project. In May 2001, CFCC launched the CASA-Attorney Collaboration Project, in which CASA volunteers, minors' attorneys, and social workers are given regular and consistent opportunities to meet together and discuss cases. The project showcases how all three can collaborate as equal yet independent partners to better meet the needs of children. Although the project began as a collaboration between the CASA program and attorneys, it has grown to include the social workers in the regularly scheduled meetings. The project will continue through April 2005. Surveys, interviews, focus groups, and quarterly reports document the evolution of the collaborations over the three-year project. Best practices will be developed and distributed to California CASA programs

Court Improvement Links

National Court Improvement Information:

American Bar Association Court Improvement Fact Sheet http://www.abanet.org/child/factsheet.html This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues Court Improvement page
http://www.abanet.org/child/courtimp.html This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Federal Review and California Reform Efforts:

Federal Child and Family Services Review of California
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cfsr/Informatio_1312.htm This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

California's Program Improvement Plan http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cfsr/California_1435.htm This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

California Department of Social Services Child Welfare Services Redesign
http://www.cwsredesign.ca.gov/ This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Child Welfare Outcomes and Accountability System All County Letter
http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/getinfo/acl04/pdf/04-05.pdf This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Practice Guidelines:

American Bar Association Standards of Practice for Attorneys who Represent Children and National Association of Counsel for Children Revised Standards of Practice http://www.naccchildlaw.org/training/standards.html This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases http://www.pppncjfcj.org/pdf/Resource_guide/resguide.pdf This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Adoption and Permanency Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases
http://www.pppncjfcj.org/html/TA-adoption-permanency-guidlines.html This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

ABA Child CourtWorks Newsletter http://www.abanet.org/child/courtimp.html This is an external link. Click this icon for our external linking policy.

Please contact CFCC@jud.ca.gov for more information.