For one local team of the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative in southwest Nebraska, the development of a collaborative group of stakeholders in the abuse/neglect court system has provided them with an effective way to improve the court process. According to Anne Paine, a guardian ad litem and parents’ attorney and a member of the 11th District McCook team, her team is “actually implementing procedures into court practice and not just talking esoterically.” Changes are now made to overall procedure and processing of the court process, and not just dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
The McCook team includes a diversity of stakeholders, including court administrators, county attorneys, HHS workers, supervisors and administrator, GALs, parents’ attorneys, CASA, a CD counselor, and court facilitator, and is lead by lead judge Cloyd Clark. Although Judge Clark will be retiring from the bench in June, he has been the driving force of the team, and has guided team collaboration and encouraged improvements and changes in court procedure.
One of the practices the team has found to be most important is in front-loading cases. The McCook team is one of many in Nebraska that have decided that paying more attention at the front-end of the case is essential in minimizing the time a child spends in out-of-home care and improving case outcomes. Under past practice, according to Paine, many parents only discovered at disposition, often occurring sixty days after adjudication, what they had to do to have their children returned to them. By front-loading the process, parents are told at the onset what they need to do and are given the tools and directions to do so at the initial planning meeting.
The planning meeting has been developed by the team as a pre-hearing conference of all parties in the case. At the planning meeting, the parties discuss visitation and placement issues, the child’s interests, and what services the parents can access immediately. The parents are given full information on services and with the assistance of HHSS can begin to access those services after the planning meeting. Complimenting the planning meeting process, the team has also developed a process of appointing attorneys for the parents prior to the detention hearing so that they are represented during the planning meeting. Court administrators have also developed a Notice of Juvenile Court Hearing and a Notice to Attorney regarding the planning meeting.
The McCook team has designated that it will be working on implementing these additional best practices contained in their Action Plan:
- A no continuance policy absent good cause
- Factually specific reasonable efforts findings in orders
- Adjudication within 60 days of removal
- Filings of reports at least 7 days before review hearings
- Scheduling permanency hearing at time of disposition hearing
- Children twelve and over complete a questionnaire every 6 months
- Children twelve and over are given copy of the case plan
- HHSS and GAL contact children twelve and over every month, or foster parent every month if the child is under 12.
If you have questions about or interest in the McCook team’s practice, please contact team secretary .
Front row (l-r): Eugene Garner, Judge Cloyd Clark, Paul Wood; Middle Row (l-r): Cathy McDowell, Kathy Jones, Peggy Ruppert, Marjorie Lambert, Bryant Brooks; Back Row (l-r): Anne Paine, Linda Smith, Nicole Peterson, and Corina Fritz. Members not pictured are: Thomas Patterson, Bethany Monnahan, Ryan Wilcox, Kevin Urbom, Michelle Orton, and Jerrilyn Crankshaw
