The three leading national organizations dealing with court issues relating to children and families have announced the formation of a Collaborative with a goal of improving outcomes for abused and neglected children. With support and funding from the Children’s Bureau, the NCJFCJ, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and the National Center for State Courts will continue to work together as the National Court and Child Welfare Collaborative: Focus on System Reform.

The goals of the Collaborative are to assist courts in their efforts to keep children safe, ensure child well-being, and reach timely permanency. Each of the organizations has a long history of providing support and technical assistance to judges, courts, and court systems across the country. By forming the Collaborative, the members believe that their combined efforts will result in even better outcomes for children and families who find themselves involved with both courts and the child welfare system.

The first significant event planned by the Collaborative is a training conference in November 2006 which will bring together the leaders of State Court Improvement Programs across the country to provide support and training to these programs as they work in each state to improve court operations. For further information about the Collaborative, please contact Dr. Shirley Dobbin, Interim Director of NCJFCJ’s Permanency Planning for Children Department at sdobbin@ncjfcj.org, Dr. Sophie Gatowski, PPCD Assistant Director at sgatowski@ncjfcj.org, or the manager of the Collaborative, Judge Leonard P. Edwards (ret.) at the California Administrative Office of the Courts, (415) 865-8820, Leonard.Edwards@jud.ca.gov.