COMING SOON!!
Designing Effective Training Evaluations: An Implementation Guide and Toolbox for Dependency Court Systems

With funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, the Permanency Planning for Children Department (PPCD), in collaboration with the National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues, has developed an Implementation Guide and Toolbox for dependency court systems to use as they design and evaluate their training programs. The Guide is designed to provide strategies and evaluation tools to training coordinators about how to identify training needs, develop training methodologies, and assess training outcomes.

Click HERE to view the Fact Sheet.

New PPCD Technical Assistance Brief!

Court Reform and American Indian and Alaskan Native Children:
Increasing Protections and Improving Outcomes

This Technical Assistance Brief, a joint publication of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, has found that additional improvements in data collection and collaboration between courts and public agencies are required to better meet the unique needs of American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) children in court dependency cases, and offers additional recommendations to strengthen the foster care system's response to the needs of AI/AN children. Partially funded by OJJDP, the report provides a preliminary examination of recommendations made in a 2004 study by the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, focusing on State and Tribal Court involvement in Indian child welfare matters and opportunities for enhancing court systems for AI/AN children.

Please click Here to download the publication. Hard copies can be obtained by contacting caninfo@ncjfcj.org

Judicial Responsibility in a Budget Crisis Environment
Policy Statement

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' Well-Being Committee met in January 2009 and discussed its deep concern that the well-being of children and families will suffer during times of budget reductions. This statement was adopted as a policy of the NCJFCJ by its Board of Trustees in January 2009.

Please click HERE to download the policy statement.

Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L. 110-351) 

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893/P.L 110-351) will aid thousands of children and youth in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption, and improving education and health care. The Permanency Planning for Children Department is working with the American Bar Association (ABA) to create a reference guide for judges on the implications the Act has for juvenile and family court judges.  A detailed description of the Act, along with judicial considerations, can be accessed by clicking here or the link above.

For the Administration for Children and Families Title IV-E State Plan Amendment Guardianship Assistance Program information click here.

For the Title IV-E State Plan Amendment form click here.