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Michigan Court Improvement ProgramThe Court Improvement Program operates to improve court performance concerning at-risk families and children. With collaboration from key stakeholders, Court Improvement Program activities assess judicial processes, identify barriers to effective decision making, and examine child welfare laws and court rules to determine if changes are needed to ensure a unified child protection system that provides appropriate and timely services to families. The Court Improvement Program measures court performance to help ensure children’s safety, well-being, and permanence.Michigan receives three grants from the federal government. The Child Welfare Services division administers all three grants, which include the Court Improvement Program main grant, the data collection and analysis grant, and the training grant. A description of each grant’s activities follows. Court Improvement Program (CIP) Main GrantChild Welfare Services main staff liaison: Kelly HowardThe main grant supports the statewide Court Improvement Program taskforce, which is a multi-disciplinary advisory committee to the Child Welfare Services division. The taskforce and Child Welfare Services collaborate to identify and address barriers to safety, permanency, and child and family well-being at the state and local levels. Members of the taskforce participate on one of four Court Improvement Program committees:
(2) Policy Committee (3) Quality & Depth of Hearing Committee (4) Child & Family Services Review Committee
Child Welfare Services staff liaison: Jenifer Pettibone The Quality Representation Committee is dedicated to improving the quality of legal representation in Michigan for all parties involved in abuse and neglect cases. The committee’s goal is to evaluate the practice of attorneys that represent children, parents, and the Department of Human Services. As the evaluations are completed, the committee will develop model contracts, make policy and legislative recommendations, and help to implement positive changes to the child welfare system. The committee is working to re-evaluate the status of legal representation for children involved in the foster care system. The current evaluation will be compared to the 2002 American Bar Association evaluation. The committee has developed surveys for various stakeholders, and will be conducting focus groups and analyzing the data from the surveys. >>See the Lawyers-Guardian Ad Litem Survey Results To download, right click on link and select "save target as..." Additionally, the committee has formed a subcommittee to concurrently address the issue of representation for parents in child welfare matters. The subcommittee has teamed up with the American Bar Association to improve the quality of representation for parents in Michigan and create a model for the American Bar Association to disseminate to other states to improve the quality of representation throughout the United States. Policy Committee Child Welfare Services staff liaison: Kelly Howard The Policy Committee drafts statewide policies to ensure consistency in courts' child welfare practices and procedures. The committee vets draft policies by the statewide task force, and submits them to the Child Welfare Services division for consideration. Quality & Depth of Hearing Committee Child Welfare Services staff liaison: Maribeth Preston The Quality & Depth of Hearing Committee has been assigned the responsibility of responding to Chapter Four of the Court Improvement Program Reassessment and the related recommendations for changes in the Michigan system. The committee will also consider the Court Improvement Program Reassessment Report’s findings and recommendations regarding assignment and training of jurists. To accomplish these tasks, the committee has begun to develop best practices for each child protective hearing. Once developed, the Child Welfare Services division will publish and provide statewide training on the best practices. Child & Family Services Review Committee Child Welfare Services staff liaison: Jim Novell Child and Family Services Reviews are conducted by the Children's Bureau within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, and are designed to help states achieve more timely permanency decisions and establish stronger safety guarantees for abused and neglected children. Indian Child Welfare Act Committee Child Welfare Services staff liaisons: Angel Sorrells, Maribeth Preston, Patrick Hale, and Bayo Callender The Court Improvement Program created a new workgroup to ensure compliance with and continuity in implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Over the next several months, the Indian Child Welfare Act workgroup will create a court resource guide to be a single informational source for courts. The Indian Child Welfare Act workgroup includes representation from Michigan’s 12 federally-recognized tribes, probate and circuit court judges, family court administrators, attorneys, the Superintendent of the Michigan Children’s Institute, and other Department of Human Services representatives. Court Improvement Program Data Collection and Analysis GrantChild Welfare Services staff liaison: Angel SorrellsThe Data Collection and Analysis Grant (data grant) allows Michigan courts and the Department of Human Services to use federal funds to share and study data to ensure that children in the abuse and neglect system receive the best and most timely placement possible. The Department of Human Services signed a data sharing agreement with the State Court Administrative Office in June 2008. The data grant funds are initially being used for court and Department of Human Services data analysis in three pilot counties (Genesee, Oakland, and Saginaw). Each county maintains a different court information system, which can be used to determine the best methods for data sharing given the various data collection methods. Once the pilot counties are integrated into a data sharing plan focused on improved court performance for children, the data project will be taken statewide. Court Improvement Program Training GrantChild Welfare Services staff liaison: Maribeth PrestonDuring 2008, the Child Welfare Services division has provided Court Improvement Program trainings in different modalities aimed at reaching the greatest number of people. Child Welfare Services continues to collaborate with the Department of Human Services and other area agencies in order to develop trainings that are useful to a broad spectrum of professionals. A luncheon webcast series addressed the topics of:
A summit on Expediting Court Handling of Adoptions was conducted in March. The summit involved specifically targeted county teams consisting of judges with primary oversight of adoptions, court staff in charge of adoptions, lawyer guardians ad litem, parents’ attorneys, Department of Human Services and private agency adoption supervisory staff, and tribal representatives. This summit allowed the teams to examine the bottlenecks in their adoption processes and to collaboratively identify potential solutions. In November 2008, a second part of the Expediting Court Handling of Adoptions Summit will be held that will enable the selected teams to share their experiences implementing system based changes in their respective counties and to identify successes and areas still needing improvement. Live trainings were conducted on issues of effective petition drafting and addressing children’s needs in the child welfare system including developmental needs, safety issues due to domestic violence, and substance affected families. Live trainings in 2008 also included:
To obtain up-to-date training information, please contact Maribeth Preston. |
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