The Lancaster County Juvenile Court is currently encouraging children
and youth to attend their foster care hearings. In fact, over the past
decade, there has been growing support and interest across the country
for involving children in their court proceedings. It is believed that
including children in the court process, thus giving them a voice, can
be empowering for the children. Additionally, their involvement may be
uniquely informational for the judge and other parties and attorneys
present in the courtroom. The University of Nebraska's (Lincoln)
Center on Children, Families, and the Law (CCFL) has completed a study
that assessed children's perceptions and attitudes regarding their
participation in the court process, and explored the impact of
children's participation on the court process itself.
The study included children who participated in their court hearings as well as children who did not. Children were given an opportunity to provide some brief feedback on their thoughts and feelings, and representatives from CCFL also attended court hearings to observe the effect of the children's participation on the process. Within two weeks of each of the observed hearings, representatives from CCFL visited the children in their foster homes, where children completed a brief questionnaire about their experiences with the court system.
Preliminary data was presented at the 2008 Through the Eyes of the Child Regional Conferences, and findings based on the completed study were presented at the 2009 Nebraska Children's Summit.
For more information regarding the Children in Court Study please contact or
View more information regarding the Court Improvement Project at the Center on Children, Families, and the Law, and all the associated research.
