|
California Voter |
Juvenile Justice in California
|
| Addressing Issues Surrounding Child Abuse and Neglect | ||
|
|
California Voter |
Juvenile Justice in California
|
| Addressing Issues Surrounding Child Abuse and Neglect | ||
| The League of Women Voters of California | Fall 1999 |
|
In this section... ADDRESSING ISSUES SURROUNDING CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT  TABLE OF CONTENTS
|
The Judicial Council of California adopted a Long-Range Strategic Plan in May 1997 to prepare for changes facing the courts and to comply with new federal regulations. The introduction to the plan notes the role of courts in society:
"Owing to changes in societal structures, the courts are now expected to provide much more than the services which have been traditionally and strictly associated with the court's dispute resolution function. Many people, government officials as well as court users, seek therapeutic or preventive justice from the courts. They look to the courts to coordinate the provision of social services while providing dispute resolution services that affect the very core of people's lives. Examples of the changing role of the courts include new drug and other specialty courts and the court coordination of social service with all justice system proceedings in cases involving families and children."
Also in the spring of 1997, the Juvenile Law Subcommittee of the Judicial Council's Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee published the California Court Improvement Project Report, which makes 27 recommendations for court improvements.
Judge Leonard Edwards, Superior Court of San Jose and Co-chair of the Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Family and Juvenile Law, made 23 recommendations. One recommendation was to ensure there would be enough qualified and experienced judicial officials to properly serve children and families. Another was to redesign the court structure so all child and family matters, including divorce and child custody, would be under the jurisdiction of a unified child-family court, as suggested in Family Law Court 2000.
A Court Reform Effort Targeting Parental Substance Abuse
In 1997 the San Diego Juvenile Court developed plans for the Dependency Court Recovery Project. This plan works to achieve positive reunification for as many families as possible by increasing successful recovery from alcohol and drug dependency when it is a contributing factor in the parenting problem.
Need for Reform
The court found that, as a whole, it had done a very poor job making placement decisions for children on time and in conformity with statutory guidelines. A recent study found that for half of the cases examined, approximately 34 months, or more than twice the statutory guideline, were required to close a case.
The court found that a major contributor to this delay was inadequate access to and follow-through with drug and alcohol treatment services and other services to parents with cases active in court. A review of case files indicated that a contributing factor in 80 percent of dependency cases was alcohol and drug use or dependence of one or both of the children's parents. The review found that parents didn't get into effective and prompt treatment; therefore, dates for compliance with reunification plans were extended. Rather than providing prompt and definitive intervention, the system allowed cases to drift, discouraging parental change and reinforcing parent-child separations.
By providing targeted, effective alcohol and drug recovery services, the court reasoned it would maximize the opportunity for the recovery of parents subject to alcohol and drug use, support family continuity and improve long-term outcomes. In instances where reunification was not successful, early decisions concerning permanent placement could then be made for the benefit of the child.
The Reform Proposals
The court planned to emphasize compliance with statutory time lines for decision making in all dependency cases. The court reform proposals included both a specific set of options to address the alcohol and drug abuse concerns and general court reform measures:
- Implementation of a Substance Abuse Recovery Management System
- Making alcohol and drug recovery treatment available on demand
- Implementation of a Drug Court
- Increased participation of CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates)
- Redefinition of the roles of the key players within the dependency system
- Utilization of settlement/mediation conferences
- Utilization of family group conferences
- Improvement of the automated tracking system
Each of these measures requires the court to collaborate with those agencies or individuals that are impacted by the changes. The safety of the child is the primary consideration underlying all efforts.
Return to Voter Table of Contents