Court Rules To Achieve Permanency for Foster Children - Sample Rules and Commentary

• NCJ Number: 100999
• Author(s): M Hardin; A Shalleck
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 160 pages
• Corporate Author: American Bar Assoc
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Policy/Procedure Handbook/Manual
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Foster Care Project

Annotation

These sample court rules, developed after a 5-year study by the American Bar Association's National Legal Resource Center for Child Advocacy and Protection, are intended to establish juvenile court procedures that promote permanent homes for abused and neglected children.

Abstract

The rules are designed to facilitate stable homes for foster children by providing judicial oversight of case planning, ensuring a coordinated decisionmaking process, reducing unnecessary delays in court proceedings through strengthened juvenile court case management, and encouraging the involvement of parents and children in the litigation. Rules applicable to all stages of juvenile court proceedings pertain to scheduling, discovery, representation of parents and children, attendance at court hearings, the preservation of records and exhibits, telephone conferences, and consolidation and transfer. Other rules deal with the following stages of case processing: emergency protective care, adjudication, disposition, foster care review and other postdispositional proceedings, the termination of parental rights, post-termination review, and appeals. The rules are presented with and without commentary.