Nicholas Wurth, JD, Assistant Douglas County Public Defender

INTRODUCTION

In the relentlessly changing world of Nebraska juvenile court practice it is difficult to keep up with the evolving case law, yearly statutory changes, seemingly frequent audits/studies of the “system,” HHS policy amendments, and the effects of Federal laws on all of the above. A reminder all practitioners should find unnecessary is that the Juvenile Court is a civil court, and as a result, accountability and enforcement of the varying laws and policies are, in the end, achieved through the deprivation or limitation of the money received from the federal government to fund all of the programs and services necessary to families in need of state assistance.

Jackie Madara-Campbell, JD

You’re seven years old, scared and want your mom. Four days ago, some strangers took you from your home and now you’re living with other strangers calling themselves foster parents. When you ask where your mom is, these strangers explain that she’s sick and can’t take care of you. In truth, she’s addicted to prescription painkillers and has an undiagnosed mental illness. Nobody knows where she is…

by Mark Porto

As an attorney who performs a rather high percentage of my practice in the juvenile court arena, I have heard many foster parents, support workers, and even the occasional caseworker complain about the rather minimal amount of financial assistance provided to foster parents. It took my recent trip to the National Juvenile Law Conference in New York City, however, to truly understand just how poorly we, as Nebraskans, treat these often thankless heroes in the lives of children who wind-up in the foster care system. Specifically, the presentation I attended was conducted by attorneys from the Children’s Advocacy Institute in California who had recently participated in groundbreaking federal litigation regarding the sufficiency—or insufficiency—of reimbursement payments issued to foster care providers. This was truly an eye-opening presentation which I believe could very well be duplicated in Nebraska.

by Natalie G. Nelsen, Guardian ad Litem, Holdrege

On October 7, 2008, the Fostering Connections Act was signed into law. The Foster Connections Act is designed to help children and youth in the foster care system by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianships and adoptions and by improving education and health care. The Act has six key areas of focus to improve outcomes for youth. It is important to note that many of the requirements of the Act are tied to eligibility for Title IV (E) funding, and many of the resources made available through the act are only available if the child is IV(E) eligible.

By Tina Marroquin

As 27 families dropped their children off at hospitals after the implementation of Nebraska’s safe-haven law, it became apparent that Nebraska is not meeting the mental health care needs of its children. In the aftermath of the safe-haven legislation, health care professionals and children’s advocates identified the need for one-stop crisis centers, more respite care beds, and more funding for outpatient and residential treatment programs for children(1) as well as a single access point for mental health services.(2) The court system, also should consider its role in addressing mental health issues for juveniles.

By Shon T. Lieske

If you are like myself and, as I suspect, most attorneys practicing in the area of Juvenile Law, the ICPC is something you have heard of, and maybe even dealt with on occasion, but for the most part, is something that simply slips into the morass of other acronyms that you have some vague understanding of what it stands for, and less understanding of how it applies. In my three years as a practicing juvenile law attorney, I have had one case involving the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), and following the “receiving state’s” completion of the home study, my client in that case decided to relinquish her parental rights, and so any further placement issues under the ICPC thereafter, quickly dissolved. Following that experience, I have simply been fortunate that no other case has yet to test my limited knowledge of the ICPC, and how to handle placement under this compact…

The issue of immigration has moved into the spotlight in Nebraska and all indications suggest that it will be a significant issue for the next several years. Groups and governmental entities have narrowed their focus and analysis to specific issues of immigration, such as granting or prohibiting qualified undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at state [...]

By Kelli Hauptman

Pre-hearing conferences has become a term increasingly used in the Nebraska abuse/neglect court system. Since their introduction to Nebraska stakeholders in September 2006, pre-hearing conferences have become widely used by courts as a method to front-load the system and shorten the time necessary to place a child in a permanent home. Anecdotal evidence from judges, attorneys, caseworkers and other suggest that pre-hearing conferences have generally been successful in acquiring more information at the commencement of the case, providing services to parents and children at the earliest opportunity, and moving the case to permanency faster.

In a provocative new study, MIT professor Joseph J. Doyle asserts that children who are “at the margin of placement” suffer from “higher delinquency rates, along with some evidence of higher teen birth rates and lower earnings” when removed from their home, than those children allowed to remain at home.1  The study begs the question: [...]

Child welfare cases are about doing what is best for the youth involved.  Youth need and deserve to be part of that process, and court hearings are one way to do that.  Having children involved in court hearings helps the court learn more about the children than what is presented in the reports.  The youth [...]