The National Child Welfare Resource Center
For Organizational Improvement Presents...
Agency/Court Collaboration in
the CFSR:
ENGAGING COURTS AND
THE LEGAL SYSTEM
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Developed By:
American Bar Association Center On Children And The Law
Court Improvement Program
(CIP) Overview
• Est. in 1994 in response to the
expanded role of courts in achieving
stable, permanent homes for
children in foster care.
• Grants are awarded to the highest
court of each participating state.
• Recipients complete a detailed selfassessment, develop
recommendations to improve the
court system and implement the
recommended reforms.
2
Involving Courts and the Legal
System in the CFSR
“Actively involving courts
and attorneys in the CFSR
can improve the CFSR's
quality.”
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Involving Courts and the Legal
System in the CFSR
Benefits to the agency, children
and families:
• Identify subtle CFSR legal and
judicial issues;
• Ease the burden of CFSRs;
• Provide political support for
agency goals;
• Develop and implement a
cooperative strategy for the courts
and the bar to help achieve the
CFSR goals;
• Help the agency be more effective
when working with courts on the
implementation of the PIP;
• Help foster court cooperation and
buy-in to the PIP.
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Involving Courts and the Legal
System in the CFSR
Court/legal system involvement is
also important to court improvement:
• The CFSR will strongly influence the
state child welfare agency’s reform
agenda;
• The agency’s reform efforts will
affect court reform efforts;
• CFSRs can either maintain the
agency's focus on court
improvement or deflect focus;
• Legal system operations are integral
to the CFSR;
• Important legal and judicial issues
are sometimes not apparent to the
state child protection agency.
• Knowledge of the CFSR Items may
benefit court improvement efforts.
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Encouraging Court and Legal
System Involvement
Carrots:
• The CFSR will set the agency's
reform agenda for the near future;
• Courts can help shape this agenda
and keep legal and judicial issues
at the center;
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Encouraging Court and Legal
System Involvement
Carrots (cont.):
Improvements that courts might get
onto the agency's agenda through the
CFSR;
• Improve agency court reports and
testimony,
• Upgrade the legal representation of
the agency,
• Assist judges to implement ASFA,
• Help courts obtain better outcome
data,
• Get caseworkers to attend court
hearings more consistently,
• Work together to improve court
resources, and
• Improve state law to ensure better
and timelier services for families.
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Potential Court and Legal System
CFSR Participants
• Chief Justice of the state’s highest
court
• State Court Administrator
• Director or representative of state
CIP
• Representatives of court
administrators and court clerks
• Local presiding judges
• Leaders or representatives of the
State Council of Juvenile and Family
Court Judges
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Potential Court and Legal System
CFSR Participants
Continued
• Selected judges
• President of State Bar Association
and leader of section of bar dealing
with child protection
• Representatives of attorneys
representing the government
• Law School representatives
• Director of state or local Foster Care
Review program
• Director of state or local GAL or
CASA program
• Selected child welfare agency
administrators and managers
• Selected child welfare agency
specialists and line supervisors
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Encouraging Court and Legal
System Involvement
IDEA - Involve different people
during different parts of the
process.
• One group can help prepare
written legal descriptions in the
statewide assessment at the
beginning of the CFSR.
• Other participants can help the
agency pick legal representatives.
• Additional groups of volunteers
may be selected to be interviewed.
• Others can help the agency
develop strategies for
implementation.
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Legal System Involvement at
Key CFSR Stages
Before the CFSR begins:
• In preparation for the CFSR, the
state agency should make
advanced contact with the legal
system;
• This is the ideal time period to
recruit court/legal system
involvement in the CFSR;
• These meetings allow the agency to
describe the CFSR process and
explain why the CFSR is important
to courts.
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Legal System Involvement at
Key CFSR Stages
Information that should be shared
during meetings in advance of the
CFSR:
• Brief, written materials that
describe the CFSR process and
explain how courts may be
involved;
• An overview of the results of the
most recent CFSR and PIP;
• CFSR materials developed by the
federal government;
• Agreements on the use of
information provided by the courts.
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Legal System Involvement at
Key CFSR Stages
The statewide assessment provides a
systematic picture of the state system
using seven systemic factors:
1. Statewide information system;
2. Case review system;
3.Quality assurance system;
4. Staff training;
5. Service array;
6. Agency responsiveness to the
community;
7. Foster and adoptive parent,
licensing, recruitment, and
retention.
Note: For each systemic factor,
there are from one to five sets of
questions, for a total of 23.
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Legal and Judicial info to include
in the Narrative Description
1. A general description of courts
and judges handling child
protection cases:
• The organizational structure of the
courts hearing child protection
cases and juvenile justice cases;
• Key organizational factors
regarding judicial operational;
• Judicial infrastructure as it affects
operations;
• Key statutes, rules, forms, and
case law relevant to each of the
above.
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Legal and Judicial info to include
in the Narrative Description
2. Steps in the judicial process
specifically relevant to Title IV-B
and IV-E requirements:
• Laws and procedures concerning
"contrary to the welfare" and
"reasonable efforts" findings;
• Laws and procedures concerning
reviews, permanency hearings,
filing of TPR petitions, foster
parent participation, and approving
and reviewing the case plan;
• The role of courts in reviews,
permanency hearings, filing of
TPR petitions, foster parent
participation, and approving and
reviewing the case plan;
• A description of TPR proceedings.
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Legal and Judicial info to include
in the Narrative Description
3. Legal representation of the
government and other parties in
child protection cases:
• A general description of the
organizational structure of public
and non-profit law offices;
• Key organizational factors
regarding attorney operations;
• Role of attorneys in different
stages of the legal process;
• Training for attorneys;
• Statutes, rules, and case law
relevant to legal representation.
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Legal and Judicial info to include
in the Narrative Description
4. Legal and judicial strengths and
barriers that reinforce or weaken
state operations.
5. Statutes, rules, forms and case
law governing agency operations
and the delivery of services to
children and families;
• Agency liaison with the courts and
legal system;
• Legal structure of the service
array;
• Training for other participants in
the legal system;
• Legal framework for licensing and
recruitment of foster and adoptive
homes.
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Legal and Judicial info to include
in the Narrative Description
The federal government and the state
work together to prepare a
quantitative analysis of state
operations, including;
• Assembling and analyzing data on
a number of specific measures of
child safety and permanency;
• The data cover a specified period
of time, depending on the date of
the CFSR.
• This is number crunching time!
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Statistical Description of State
Operations
Sample
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Assessing the State
SAFETY
• Timeliness in initiating child abuse
and neglect investigations.
• Recurrence of abuse or neglect by
parents.
• Services to protect children at
home and prevent removal.
• Risk of harm to child including
abuse or neglect of child while in
foster care.
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Assessing the State
PERMANENCY
• Foster care reentry.
• Stability of foster placement.
• Permanency goal for the child.
• Independent living services.
• Achievement of adoption.
• Permanency goal of OPPLA.
• Proximity of foster care placement.
• Placement with siblings.
• Visits with parents and siblings.
• Preserving connections with
relatives
• Relative placement.
• Relationship of child in care with
parents.
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Assessing the State
CHILD AND FAMILY WELL-BEING
• Needs and services of child,
parents, foster parents.
• Child and family involvement in
case planning.
• Worker visits with the child.
• Worker visits with parents.
• Educational needs of the child.
• Physical health of the child.
• Mental health of the child.
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The Onsite Review
Purpose - To gain an in depth
understanding of the federally
specified outcomes and systemic
factors.
• Takes place in 3 locations in the
state.
• Teams perform detailed reviews of
a cases as well as interviews with
key people involved in those
cases.
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The CFSR Final Report
Purpose - Specify whether the state
is or is not in "substantial conformity"
with each of the seven general safety,
permanency, and well-being outcomes
and the seven systemic measures.
The final report not only says whether
or not there is substantial conformity
regarding each systemic measure, but
also discusses the strengths and
weaknesses related to each.
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Legal System Involvement
in the PIP
Purpose - The PIP addresses each of
the outcome areas for which the state
is not in "substantial conformity" and is
designed to correct weaknesses
identified in the final report.
• PIP may last up to two years.
• At the conclusion, there will be an
evaluation to determine whether
the state's PIP has been
successful.
• Potential penalties if state fails to
meet its PIP goals.
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The Memorandum of
Understanding
SAMPLE
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Thank You!
Agency/Court Collaboration in
the CFSR:
ENGAGING COURTS AND
THE LEGAL SYSTEM
27
Developed By:
American Bar Association Center On Children And The Law