| Legal Role in Family Preservation |
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Leads: Judge Peggy Walker and Judge Stephen Franzen
The Committee on Justice for Children has been exploring the role of the judiciary in preventing unnecessary removal of children from their homes into foster care. The committee recognizes from our own Georgia data that removal to foster care is more likely to happen in some counties than in others. Through collaborative work and best practices, the Committee hopes to do more to keep children safely in their homes.
Major Goals for Family Preservation:
Strategies – Existing public health research supports the efficacy of home visitation programs that require fidelity to specify teaching models for parenting, focusing on bonding, health and safety of a child. Some of these programs are done by nurses and others by specifically trained practitioners. We need to educate ourselves about this work and support its expansion across Georgia.
Strategies – J4C is supporting work by the Emory University Law School Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic to create a Legal Guide to Family Preservation. Juvenile Court judges will serve as editors for the project. Upon completion, J4C will support distribution of, and training on, the Legal Guide.
Strategies – Removal rates vary widely from county to county. This data needs to be examined and courts that are successfully avoiding unnecessary removals need to be studied. The most promising tactics should be shared across the state. Currently, presentation of removal rate data is included at every summit. For the counties with high removal rates, there is also discussion of the trauma caused by unnecessary removals, brainstorming on how to reduce the rate and encouragement to include such strategies in their action plans.
Strategies – Evidentiary findings that reasonable efforts were made to prevent children from coming into foster care is a powerful tool to ensure that children do not come into foster care unnecessarily.
Strategies – Infants and toddlers are most at risk for serious harm or death with abuse/neglect. And the brain development during this time is crucial. The judges and attorneys in the child welfare system need to provide special monitoring of the youngest children. The Committee will focus training resources on this subject.
Progress:
Family Preservation in Georgia; A Legal and Judicial Guide to Preventing Unnecessary Removal to State Custody was published through funding, resources and contributions from the Georgia Bar Foundation, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic Emory University, and our Committee on Justice for Children.
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