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Child Welfare and Juvenile Law

The vision of the NCJFCJ is a society in which every family and child has access to fair, equal, effective and timely justice.

To further the NCJFCJ’s vision, child welfare, and juvenile law programs focus on challenging issues to courts, which include child abuse and neglect, juvenile justice, the disproportionate number of children of color in dependency and juvenile justice systems, mental health and trauma, military-connected families, schools and justice, substance abuse, the Indian Child Welfare Act, domestic child sex trafficking, and applied research in juvenile and family courts.

Child welfare and juvenile law programs also encompass several projects that engage selected jurisdictions in program, policy, and initiative development to reduce safely the number of children in foster care and improve the outcomes for all children that touch the justice system. These include Implementation Sites, Model Courts, and Project ONE. Through individualized technical assistance responses, the NCJFCJ provides these jurisdictions – and numerous other courts and allied organizations across the nation – with information and training to improve outcomes for some of the most vulnerable populations.

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