Progress on Court Reforms
Implementation of Recommendations from Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care

Since the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care issued its report, and as a direct result of the federal Court Improvement Grants made possible by the DRA, states have made significant progress in strengthening court proceedings in child abuse and neglect cases. Map 2 shows the areas on which states have focused in implementing action plans to improve the lives of children and their families. State courts have enhanced accountability primarily through improving data collection and/or management information systems. Many states have taken this work one step further and coordinated court child and family data with that of the child welfare agency. Coordination of data collection and review has the potential to improve both court and agency case tracking, and decrease the time that children spend in foster care. Some states have evaluated and made efforts to decrease family court judges’ workloads. Across the nation, family court judges have assumed leadership roles in expediting permanency for children and youth in
foster care.  States have implemented model courts and initiated pilot programs. States also have worked to improve the quality of legal representation for children, youth and parents.  Courts have employed a range of tactics, from trainings for judicial officers to studies on how best to ensure that the voices of children and families are heard in dependency proceedings. 

Recommendations

Across the country, state dependency courts have implemented numerous reforms – those included in their 2005 action plans as well as new efforts. However, there is still more to be done in the areas of accountability, collaboration, and strengthening of the voices of children, youth and families in court proceedings. 

1. State dependency courts can promote better outcomes for children and youth through continuing efforts to strengthen case tracking mechanisms, data collection, and data sharing between courts and child welfare agencies.  Despite good progress by dedicated court personnel nationwide, more improvements are still needed related to the tracking of child welfare cases. By increasing accountability through better monitoring and movement of cases through the judicial process in a timely way, more children and youth will end up in the safe, permanent families that they need and deserve, rather than waiting in uncertainty, adrift in the foster care system.
2. Nearly half of the states are currently exchanging data or collaborating with child welfare agencies; the remaining states could improve child and family outcomes by developing similar initiatives. Efforts need to continue to strengthen collaborative relationships between the courts and child welfare agencies and other child and family serving organizations. Many states have focused attention on collaboration, with extremely promising results.
3. In addition, more should be done to ensure that the voices of children, youth, and families are heard in their court proceedings.  The great majority of states (96 percent) initiated some type of activity to enhance constituent voice, but most states reported training Guardians Ad Litem and Court Appointed Special Advocates rather than implementing practices to ensure the presence of children, youth and families in the court room whenever possible.  A key recommendation is that all states initiate activities that actively bring children, youth, and their families into the court process. Some state courts already have mandated that all yout