Did you know...


that SAMHSA's National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day 2011 is on Tuesday, May 3?  Find out what you can do to help raise awareness.

National Reunification Day (NRD) will be celebrated across the country between Mother's Day (May 8th) and Father's Day (June 19th). Its purpose is three-fold: to celebrate the accomplishments of families overcoming their challenges, to recognize the vital role that community partners play in helping to reunify and strengthen families, and to inspire other parents going through similar issues. Last year, several teams of the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative celebrated National Reunification Day in their communities. Read an article about last year's celebrations. If you are interested in planning a celebration in your community, please contact your local Team Coordinator. More information about NRD is available here.

Nebraska Appleseed recently released the Policy Brief Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT): Children's rights to preventative screening, diagnosis and treatment under Medicaid in Nebraska.  EPSDT is a federal law that requires states receiving Medicaid funding to regularly screen and treat all children under 21 who are eligible for Medicaid.  Because all children in foster care are eligible for Medicaid, EPSDT requirements apply broadly to cases in the Nebraska abuse/neglect court system.  Read the Policy Brief.

Project Safe Start – Nebraska has now commenced in the Lancaster and Douglas County Family Drug Courts.  Funded through the Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts with a 4-year $1.3 million SAMHSA grant, and managed by the Nebraska Court Improvement Project, Project Safe Start – Nebraska will focus on the needs of infants and toddlers in the child welfare court system whose families have been affected by methamphetamine and other drugs.  Infants and toddlers can have profound social-emotional and other developmental impacts due to neglect, as discussed by Dr. Joy Osofsky in a 2009 training for Nebraska mental health therapists.  This grant program was recently highlighted in a Lincoln Journal Star article.

 

The 2011 Lecture Series kicks off this month in Alliance!  There’s still time to register for all of the trainings

Online registration is open for the 2011 Lecture Series which starts on April 26th.  There is no cost to attend (and just $5 per MCLE credit).  Any court stakeholder with an interest in the topics is welcome to attend.

This year’s lecture series trainings are:

  • Effective & Ethical Representation of Very Young Children in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases
    • April 26: Alliance
    • April 27: Lexington
    • April 28: Omaha
  • Immigration Issues for Children in Juvenile Court
    • May 3: Grand Island
    • May 4: Ashland
  • Advanced Topics on Substance Abuse Issues
    • May 25: O’Neill
    • May 26: South Sioux City
    • May 27: Lincoln
  • Ethics, Best Practices, or Both?  Ethical Dilemmas in Child Welfare Cases for the Nebraska GAL
    • June 13: Omaha
    • June 14: Lincoln
    • June 15: North Platte

Click here for more information.

2011 Helping Babies from the Bench registration now open for trainings in McCook, Broken Bow, Valentine and Grand Island

The next round of Helping Babies from the Bench trainings will be held across Nebraska this spring and summer.  These trainings focus on the needs of infants and toddlers in the abuse/neglect court system and how court stakeholders can improve their outcomes.  Topics include the impact of trauma on child development, the use of EPDST, Part C/CAPTA early childhood evaluations and more. 

This series of trainings includes Phase I, an overview of infants and toddlers, and Phase II, advanced topics and implementation into court practice.  Agendas are available here.  Trainings will be held in McCook (May 6th), Broken Bow (June 9th), Valentine (June 10th), and Grand Island (August 12th).  For more information or to register, click here.

Spotlight Issue: Improving the Treatment, Care and Success of Nebraska’s Children through the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics

By Krista Shaul, Deputy County Attorney, Cheyenne County

Chances are, at some point during a juvenile case, a child under the Nebraska Juvenile Court jurisdiction will participate in some kind of therapy or treatment.  Some therapy addresses trauma the child has been subjected to soon after the trauma has occurred.  Other therapy works on behavioral actions of the juvenile, which in all likelihood are precipitated by and are also a result of trauma.  Traditional therapy, the kind thought of when the words “counseling” or “therapist” are mentioned, can be helpful to a child, but only with the right child at the right time.  There are numerous success stories based on therapy a child has participated in; however, with Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), the success of the treatment and care of Nebraska’s children will vastly improve. Read more.

Updates on the 2011 Legislative Bills affecting child welfare

  • LB 177, the Fostering Connections bill, was made a priority bill by the HHS Committee on March 10, 2011
  • LB 94, which requires adoptive parents to be given the opportunity to read the child's case file, was signed into law by the Governor on March 10, 2011
  • LB 648, which provides certain rights to foster parents, was designated as Sen. Christensen’s priority bill
  • An amendment was added by the Health and Human Services Committee to LB 95, which requires lead agencies to get accreditation.  AM 704 would impose a moratorium on DHHS from contracting for child welfare and juvenile justice service coordination and case management with any new lead agency in the central, western and northern service areas until June 1, 2012
  • LB 95, with AM 704, passed the first round of debate in the Legislature on March 29, 2011
Click here for more information on the 2011 Legislative Bills affecting child welfare.

Oral Argument of Abuse/Neglect Cases

Oral arguments in abuse/neglect cases made before the Nebraska Supreme Court and Nebraska Court of Appeals are available on the Through the Eyes website.  You may stream the audio on your computer, or download it to play on an iPod or other mobile device.

Oral arguments held in March/April:

Caselaw Summaries

Trying to find an abuse/neglect case but can’t remember the case name?  Use our search engine for abuse/neglect cases since 2006.  Cases can be searched by keyword.  To begin a search, click here (http://www.throughtheeyes.org/articles/caselaw/).

  • In re Interest of Javontae T.(unpublished opinion, March 22, 2011) A parent cannot delay a proceeding by challenging paternity when a default order of paternity had been entered years earlier and has remained uncontested by that parent. Full Opinion

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