Hearings

A recent report detailed what happened when COVID-19 took hold of the New York City family court: backlogged cases, unmanageable caseloads and "harm to thousands of families."

A new Texas law and a bill being considered would strengthen the rights of parents in the child protection courts, allowing them greater access to court-appointed attorneys and the ability to attend court hearings virtually, even after the pandemic recedes.

California county courts must continue to hold hearings on cases where children are in foster care or have been placed in juvenile detention, and child welfare systems must try to facilitate in-person visits for separated families, according to new rules approved today by the California Judicial Council. 

It’s 3:30 on a Friday afternoon at the Alfred J. McCourtney Juvenile Justice Center in Lancaster, California, when the last case of the day begins. This is the dependency courtroom that serves the Antelope Valley, a remote high-desert community that has been marked by a string of child fatalities in recent years, including 4-year Noah Cuatro last month.

As a social worker with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), I face a lot of situations that are disheartening and tough to deal with. But few moments in my career have left me more disillusioned than a recent experience at the Los Angeles County courthouse in Lancaster.

As a community pastor ministering to foster and probation youth in Northern California, I know how important it is for teachers, family friends, clergy, mentors and others to support these youth at dependency and delinquency juvenile court hearings.

In the least populated state with many expansive miles between communities, Wyoming faces some unique challenges when it comes to meeting the needs of its kids in foster care. In a state that spans almost 100,000 square miles, there were just 1,247 youth in foster care in the entire state in 2018.

When children are unable to remain safely at home with their parents or guardians, a state’s child welfare agency must step in and place the children in a home where they can be protected from abuse and/or neglect.

Alex* was 5 years old when he was removed from his home and entered Arizona’s foster care system. Alex was often left alone in his home, went days without a solid meal, and hadn’t yet started school.