Resources

• Foster Care Reform Litigation Docket
  This publication from the National Center for Youth Law provides basic information on 71 child welfare reform cases nationwide that are currently in active litigation, a pending settlement agreement, or are significant in some other respect. The Docket also describes a small sampling of damages cases.

• Case Summaries
  The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy at Capital University Law School publishes a weekly electronic summary of adoption and child welfare cases. Subscribe by visiting their website at www.law.capital.edu/adoption/

• Major Federal Legislation Concerned With Child Protection, Child Welfare, and Adoption
  This publication from the Child Welfare Information Gateway summarizes the major provisions of key Federal laws regarding child protection, child welfare, and adoption and includes a timeline of Federal child welfare legislation. New features this year include links to the full-text of each act and the Major Federal Legislation Index and Search, which allows users to browse or search the acts included in this publication.

• State Child Welfare Legislation
  State lawmakers play a significant role in crafting legislation and policy that govern the safety and well-being of children in their states. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks this activity through its State Child Welfare Legislation reports.
  • State Child Welfare Legislation Enacted in 2006
    
  • State Child Welfare Legislation Enacted in 2005
    
  • State Child Welfare Legislation Enacted in 2004
    
  • State Child Welfare Legislation 2002-2003
    
  • State Child Welfare Legislation: 2001
    

  NCSL also provides several resources on state actions taken as a result of passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, including:

  • A searchable database of state legislation enacted in response to ASFA, which contains provisions on permanency hearings, clarification of reasonable efforts, termination of parental rights and much more; and
  • State-by-state tables analyzing state ASFA legislation.

• Child Welfare Consent Decrees
  The Child Welfare League of America and the American Bar Association Center on Children and Law have released a new research paper that details state child welfare consent decrees from 1995 to 2005. This review examines child welfare class-action litigation in 32 states, with consent decrees or settlements in 30 of these states. The report is an attempt to examine decrees or settlements currently in effect or having expired in the last 10 years. The study includes a state-by-state summary, state-by-state description, and actions taken in various areas of concern.

• Expediting Permanency: Legal Representation for Foster Children in Palm Beach County
  This report from Chapin Hall describes the evaluation of the Foster Children's Project of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Florida, which provides legal representation to children who have been placed in substitute care as a result of child abuse or neglect. Study findings suggest that efforts to individualize children’s court-approved case plans served to clarify the basis of, and thus expedite, court decisions concerning parent and agency compliance with parent’s case plan requirements. The study also discusses implications for other jurisdictions seeking to expedite permanency though juvenile court reforms, including the provision of representation to children.
  
  
• Study Shows Legal Representation of Children Expedites Permanency
  This article by Lily Dorman-Colby discusses an evaluation of the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County's Foster Children's Project (FCP) that shows a direct link between legal representation of children in foster care and their permanency outcomes. The study used data provided by the child welfare records from the Department of Children and Families' HomeSafeNet administrative database and from the juvenile court case files. The study also included interviews of judicial professionals, social workers, youth, and their parents. Findings indicate children represented by FCP were determined to have significantly higher rates of achieving permanency; adoption or guardianship was almost three times more likely with children served by FCP; there was a significant increase in long-term custody among children represented by FCP; reunification rates were unchanged; and permanency and the timing of legal milestones were expedited. Suggestions for courts and court professionals are made. The article is available from ABA Center on Children and the Law’s Child Court Works v. 10.3 (June 2008).
  (This article discusses the research by Chapin Hall mentioned in the above link.)
  
  
• Determining the Best Interests of the Child
  Whenever a court must make a determination as to the custody and/or placement of a child, or must decide on a petition for termination of parental rights, the court must weigh whether that decision will be in the best interests of the child. All States and Territories require that the child's best interests be considered whenever such decisions regarding a child's placement are made. This recently updated State Statutes publication by the Child Welfare Information Gateway provides the factors that may be considered by the court when making a “best interests” determination.
  
  
• Toolkit Features Court Performance Measures in Child Abuse Cases
  The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published “Court Performance Measures in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases.” The toolkit, which provides detailed guidance for developing and implementing court performance measures in child abuse and neglect cases, consists of five volumes, which may be ordered as a whole or individually. The five volumes are as follows: Technical Guide; Implementation Guide; User’s Guide; Guide to Judicial Workload Assessment; Key Measures. The toolkit and its components may be accessed online or ordered as print copies.

• QIC-NRF Spring 2009 Newsletter: Non-Resident Fathers and the Courts
  The Spring 2009 edition of the newsletter by the Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System (QIC-NRF) focuses on the theme of Non-Resident Fathers and the Courts. The newsletter includes a variety of articles on this topic, including: Enhanced Representation for Non- Resident Fathers in Child Welfare Proceedings, My Kids are in State Custody, What Do I Do Now?, 10 Tips on How to Work With Your Lawyer, and, Constitutional Rights of Non-Resident Fathers, amongst others.

• Agency and Court Collaboration and Youth Report: 2nd Round of CFSRs
  This PowerPoint presentation discusses the court involvement in the CFSR process, providing promising observations as well as areas where further collaboration is needed. It also presents the Youth in Foster Care Report from 2007 CFSRs.

• Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Futures: A Judge's Guide
  Produced in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Zero to Three National Policy Center, this guide for judges addresses the wide array of health. (2009)

  • Chapter Four: Achieving Permanency
  • Chapter Five: A Call to Action: Improving the Court's Response
    
    
• Model Courts National Agenda Implementation Guide
  The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges report discusses the role of the courts in catalyzing change and achieving equity and fairness in foster care. (2009)