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Legal Issues in Child Welfare
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Resources
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.
NCSL also provides several resources on state actions taken as a result of passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, including:
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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.
Resources from the States
- Illinois: A Court Guide for Caseworkers
This resource from Cook County provides general guidelines on how to present social casework information to the court in child protection proceedings. The guide also explains relevant legal concepts and the role of a caseworker in such proceedings.
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New Mexico Child Welfare Handbook
This project of the Corinne Wolfe Children’s Law Center and the New Mexico Judicial Education Center at the Institute of Public Law, UNM School of Law is intended to provide the New Mexico judiciary and other members of the child welfare community with a comprehensive resource guide to the state’s child abuse and neglect process. It incorporates the applicable requirements of the New Mexico Children’s Code, the Children’s Court rules, court cases and federal laws. It summarizes the child abuse and neglect process, describes the roles and responsibilities of a number of the participants, explains the hearings that may take place in a case, and addresses such topics as discovery, evidence, psychological considerations, and special provisions for Indian children. Proceedings under the children's mental health laws, the Delinquency Act, and other statutes are also summarized.
Curriculum
- Legal Resource Manual for Foster Parents Curriculum
This four-module training curriculum is based on the Legal Resource Manual for Foster Parents developed for the National Foster Parent Association (NFPA) by Regina Deihl, J.D., Legal Advocates for Permanent Parenting and Cecilia Fiermonte, J.D., American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. The manual itself can be purchased through the
NFPA website.
The curriculum was developed by Regina Deihl, J.D., Cecilia Fiermonte, J.D., and Dianne Kocer and Karen Jorgenson of the NFPA, with the support of the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning, A Service of the Children's Bureau. For each module we provide the instructor's guide, which includes all handouts, and a PowerPoint presentation to be used in presenting the module.
NRCFCPPP Information Packet
Websites
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National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues
The Resource Center provides training, technical assistance and consultation to agencies and courts on all legal and judicial aspects of the child welfare system, including court improvement, agency and court collaboration, court process, reasonable efforts requirements, legal representation of children and their families, guardianship, confidentiality and other emerging child welfare issues. The Resource Center also works to broaden the knowledge of agencies, courts, bar organizations, and other professional on issues involving child maltreatment, foster care, permanency planning, and adoption. It organizes and assists with training, produces and disseminates publications on law related child welfare topics, develops training materials, and helps others to improve laws, regulations, court rules, and policies.
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CSSP: Non-Adversarial Litigation
The Center for the Study of Social Policy has been involved in several class action lawsuits around the country on behalf of abused and neglected children. In each case, the Center has pioneered a less adversarial approach that seeks to solve longstanding problems in child welfare policies and programs. Based on this work, the Center has developed a body of knowledge about how to promote and sustain efforts to achieve change in the context of class action litigation. A paper outlining the benefits of a non-adversarial approach is available on their website, as well as an archive of reports on general issues in child welfare reform and reports highlighting efforts in specific states.
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Child Welfare Information Gateway
The Legal Issues and Laws portion of this website provides many helpful publications and tools, including a State Statute search, federal and state laws, and other legal information.
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Children's Rights
Children's Rights' mission is to promote and protect the right of children who are abused and neglected to grow up in permanent, loving families. By creating beneficial and lasting change in child welfare systems, they hope to ensure that children who are dependent on these systems stay safe, receive quality care and services, and return to their own families safely or find adoptive families so that they can have healthy childhoods that lead to productive adult lives.
Last updated 04/01/08
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