Article When our youngest and most
vulnerable children are placed in foster care, permanency
planning must begin at the protective custody hearing. A judge
plays a major role in making sure infants and toddlers do not
languish in foster care. The Adoption and Safe Families Act
requires that children achieve permanency (reunification or
adoption) within 12 months from being placed in foster care. Is
that happening in your court?
For brevity’s sake, please review prior articles in The
Judge’s Page newsletter on various topics to better serve
little ones in care (including the
March 2007 issue and
my article in the October 2007 issue). You may not have the
resources to implement specialty programs. Even so, an
accessible and effective way to obtain permanency for infants
and toddlers is to go back to the basics. When was the last time
you read the
Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse
and Neglect Cases (NCJFCJ 1995) and the Adoption and
Permanency Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse
and Neglect Cases (NCJFCJ 2000)? I do not mean the
bullet cards, but all the chapters. I find that few colleagues
do that regularly. Every time I reread the guidelines, I learn
something new. So, why don’t you take the lead and read?
Invite your court and community stakeholders to a roundtable
discussion on the Resource Guidelines and Adoption and
Permanency Guidelines. As a group, review one chapter per
month. Each chapter contains a great deal of material. Have
subcommittees (which may already exist) tackle various issues.
Compare current practice with what is recommended and make
improvements.
The most important hearing is the protective custody hearing.
The judge can set the tone for problem solving and a timely
response to infants, toddlers and their parents in need. This
hearing sets the foundation for all subsequent hearings.
The parents should be encouraged to fully participate in this
hearing and all others. The court should not allow hallway
“professional” conferences that exclude parents. Parents must be
shown respect and dignity. Judges, and all others, should affirm
parental strengths while offering help in areas requiring
improvement. In the end, lawyers must present evidence if the
judge is to make informed decisions.
Some Protective Custody Hearing Key Questions:
- Can the child be returned home safely pending
adjudication? What timely services will allow a child to
remain at home safely? Will parents voluntarily participate in
services?
- Has the agency made reasonable efforts to avoid
out-of-home placement? To reunify?
- Are responsible relatives available? Is the placement
proposed by the agency the least disruptive and the most
family-like setting?
- Does the Indian Child Welfare Act apply? Who will send
notice? When?
- What evaluations, treatment or other services are
needed for the baby and the baby’s parents? Of particular
importance is referring the child for the Early Intervention
Program for children under the age of three years, also known
as Part C of the IDEA [20 U.S.C. Section 1431 (2000)] and
referral to the Early Development Network for services for any
infant and toddler delays or damage.
- What are the conditions for parental and child visitation?
Use parenting time for skill-based parenting practice and
training. Do not accept “parenting classes” where certificates
are awarded for mere attendance.
- Have a concurrent permanency plan of reunification and
adoption from day one.
Some Guidelines to Follow:
- The first foster placement should be the last:
foster/adoptive placement.
- Issue specific, time sensitive and “doable” orders.
- Set the next hearing date in court.
Judges do not work in a vacuum. The quality of a judge’s
decision about permanency for babies and their parents is
directly related to the quality of the hearings and the
information the judge receives. When the stakeholders are well
trained on the Resource Guidelines and Adoption and
Permanency Guidelines, judges should receive probative
information about infants, toddlers and their parents. Both
guidelines have been around for years. Both remain timely.
Please, don’t let these vital best practice documents be
dust-collectors in your court or communities. Get back to the
basics—they work! |
Summary