Working With the Courts for Permanency

Courts play a key role within the child welfare system in achieving permanency for children. Judges, attorneys, child welfare professionals, and others must understand and implement the laws and work together to ensure timely, safe, and stable permanent families for children.

Adoption and Permanency Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases (PDF - 2200 KB)
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (2000)
Practice recommendations for dependency cases involving abused and neglected children who cannot be reunified with their families.

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and the Courts: Some Suggestions for Courts, Government Attorneys, and Child Welfare Agencies (PDF - 15 KB)
Hardin (2002)
Suggestions for successfully working together to fulfill ASFA requirements and principles.

Caregivers and the Courts: Realizing ASFA's Promise of Participation
Grimm
Protecting Children, 17(1), 2001
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Reviews factors affecting caregiver participation and describes a training curriculum developed by the National Center for Youth Law and the California Judicial Council to enhance caregivers' advocacy skills.

Empowering Foster Youth: Inclusion in Court Hearings and Decision-Making
Rodriguez
The Guardian, 27(2), 2005
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Discusses the importance of allowing foster youth to participate in the dependency courts decision-making process to better inform judges of their wishes, needs, and progress.

Improving Permanency Hearings: Sample Court Reports and Orders (MS Word - 254 KB)
ABA Center on Children and the Law (2002)
Explains permanency hearings for foster children, offers recommendations for improving hearing effectiveness, and provides forms that set forth the issues to be addressed in each hearing.

Legal Resource Manual for Foster Parents
National Foster Parent Association (2004)
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Educates foster parents about legal processes so they can effectively advocate for themselves and the children in their care.

Making It Permanent: Reasonable Efforts to Finalize Permanency Plans for Foster Children
American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law (2002)
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Guide for judges, child and parent advocates, and caseworkers identifies issues to consider when determining whether permanency plans meet the reasonable efforts requirement of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

Permanency Planning for Children Department
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Information, training, and technical assistance on permanency planning, including concurrent planning, for judges and other professionals.

Representing Parents in Child Welfare Cases: A Basic Introduction for Attorneys (PDF - 21,124 KB)
National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues (2000)
Introduces the responsibilities and duties of attorneys who represent parents. Outlines various proceedings in a case, addresses reforms, and refers to key State and Federal laws.

Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases (PDF - 554 KB)
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (1995)
Guides juvenile and family courts in assessing and implementing improvements in the handling of child abuse and neglect cases.

Some Questions to Guide Permanency Hearings (PDF - 19 KB)
National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues (2000)
Examples of areas to be developed and questions to be answered during a permanency hearing; organized by permanency goal.