Best Practice Court Matters

An update on the latest events of Best Practice Courts of Virginia Court Improvement Program Volume 3, Issue 2 Office of the Executive Secretary, Supreme Court of Virginia Fall 2005

Roanoke County/Salem celebrated the finalization of 11 . The adop- tion day event was held at the Roanoke City Courthouse and was attended by 225 people. Warren County celebrated adoptions “ANSWERING THE CALL” for 7 which were finalized over the last year. The event was held at the On Saturday, November 19, 2005, courts Warren County Courthouse and included The Hon. Anne Holton and Hon. Kimberly coast-to-coast and across Virginia came the production of portraits for each par- O’Donnell, Chief Judge, pose at the Adop- together to celebrate National ticipating . tion Saturday Event held at the Oliver Hill Day. Now in it’s sixth year, National Continued on page 3 Courts Building. Judge Holton who is the Adoption Day was created to raise lead judge for Richmond’s Best Practice awareness of children in and Court Team has resigned effective December 14, 2005 to become First Lady of the Com- to celebrate finalized adoptions. monwealth of Virginia. Although she is leav- ing the judiciary, she has expressed her con- According to the most recent federal tinued commitment to working on behalf of data, there are approximately 523,000 the children and families of Virginia. “ foster care children in the United States, and 118,000 of them are available for BEST PRACTICE COURT adoption. Since 1987, the number of chil- dren in foster care nationally has dou- MINI GRANTS bled, and the average time a re- mains in foster care has lengthened to Support for the Best Practice Court Pro- nearly three years. In Virginia, the state- gram by the Court Improvement Program An adoptive family prepares to enter wide average length of time in care is the Adoption Day Celebration held at in the Office of the Executive Secretary 33.12 months or 2.76 years. Each year, the Roanoke City Courthouse. will focus upon local initiatives for the approximately 20,000 children in foster first half of 2006. This past fall each lead care nationwide will age out of the sys- On The Inside judge and associated Best Practice Court tem without ever being placed with a per- team members were notified that, in lieu manent family. of a state conference convened at a cen- Best Practice Court Mini-Grants 1 tral site, each team is offered the oppor- In Virginia, eight Best Practice Courts tunity to develop its own local event. hosted National Adoption Day events: National Adoption Day Celebra- These efforts will be supported with fi- Alexandria hosted a private reception tions - “Answering the Call” 1 nancial and staff assistance from CIP/ and adoption ceremony to celebrate the OES. These local events may be planned adoption of 7 children. In Alexandria, 22 Local Best Practice Court and sponsored in conjunction with other adoptions were finalized in 2005. This Activities 2 Best Practice Courts in the region. was the eighth such event for this court.

Campbell, now in its third year, final- 2006 Local Initiatives 3 Financial Support in the amount of ized 2 adoptions and celebrated 7 more $1,000 will be provided to each Best that were concluded during the last year. CIP Staff Resources Available for Practice Court team and is available All of the children involved were part of Local Initiatives 4 through May 31, 2006. It is anticipated the county’s foster care program. that events will be locally planned and The City of Richmond finalized 54 2006 Calendar of Events 4 conducted on an interdisciplinary basis. adoptions and its event celebrated 33 They must focus on improving the ability adoptions among 22 families. Special New Best Practice Court Lead 4 of the community to respond to child guest, Oliver Hill, attended and shared Judges Continued on page 3 remarks with the audience. Child Abuse and Neglect Institute 4 Page 2 Best Practice Court Matters, Fall 2005

LOCAL ACTIVITIES The Central Virginian, for its hard initial hearings on petitions for relief of work in the community. The Team custody are now scheduled on DSS The Fredericksburg Best Practices continues to meet regularly and is dockets. This allows DSS counsel to Team sponsored a daylong training on working to develop a Court Appointed be present to submit proposed orders September 30 for guardians ad litem Special Advocate (CASA) program in and to review the Court’s orders to en- and other stakeholders. There were 69 their area. sure that necessary findings have been attendees including Judge Peterson, made. The OES case management sys- Judge Ellis, Judge Beck, Judge Daltan, tem (CMS) court forms screen has been and Judge Johnson. DSS and CSU Rep- revised at the suggestion of this court to resentatives from Fredericksburg, Staf- clarify the names of court orders and ford, King George and Spotsylvania how to use these automated forms. also attended. Kathleen McNaught, JD Richmond also hosted an Adoption of the National Child Welfare Resource Day Celebration. (See page 3 for details.) Center on Legal and Judicial Issues presented on “Meeting the Educational The Roanoke County/Salem Best Needs of Children in the Child Welfare Practice Court Team sponsored a day- System”. Victoria Youcha, Ed.D fol- long event focusing on Children’s Mental Health Issues. Dr. Rick Clay- lowed in the afternoon on “Foundations Fredericksburg’s Lead Judge, the Hon. David of Early Development—Zero to Three” tor, a psychiatrist with Family Preser- Peterson with speakers, Dr. Victoria Youcha, ED. vation Services spoke about medication with Sheryl Dicker, J.D. of the New D, of Washington, DC and Sheryl Dicker, J.D., York Permanent Judicial Commission of White Plains, NY, at their training event at the and how to understand a psychological on Justice for Children. Fredericks- University of Mary Washington. report. The Director of the Mental burg’s Best Practice Core Team con- Health Association of Roanoke Valley, tinues to meet regularly and has insti- Prince William County’s Best Practice Diane Kelly, spoke about community tuted these best practices: Monthly Court Team has been sending surveys resources. More than 40 people at- meetings are held with at DSS to some of the court’s clients, including tended this program. Roanoke also to go over progress, impediments and foster care children, guardians ad litem, hosted an Adoption Day Celebration. additional needs. The local Child De- and social workers. The completed (See page 1 for details.) velopment Center is conducting assess- surveys are being evaluated to deter- The Staunton/Augusta/Waynesboro ments on all children coming into fos- mine how the court can better manage Court Improvement Team held its joint ter care within 30 days. The Rappahan- its child dependency docket. The quarterly meeting on November 8, nock Area Community Services Board Team is studying the feasibility of a 2005. This team is developing a has created a system for immediate in- Visitation Center for use not only in Mentoring Program, which will have a take and assessments within 48 hours. child dependency cases, but in all cases where there is a need for a centralized dual focus: a) prevention of foster care – by providing support and men- Hampton’s Best Practice Court Team place for visitation or where visitation toring for parents with problems in is working to finalize the Pathway to needs to be monitored or supervised. hopes of avoiding foster care; and b) Permanency Planning System for re- Prince William also hosted an Adop- intervention for parents who are work- unification cases and, on a new effort, tion Day Celebration. (See page 3 for ing toward reunification with their chil- to get out the message to the commu- details.) dren. The program will be staffed by nity about the need for an increased The Pulaski Best Practices Team con- volunteer parent mentors who are pool of foster parents. The team is al- tinues to hold quarterly meetings. It trained and committed to working with ready partnering with a number of city has adopted an addendum order for fos- the parent for at least twelve months. agencies and plans to reach out to the ter care cases similar to the one used by faith community as well. Hampton Judge Sharp in Warren County. On The Virginia Beach Best Practices also hosted an Adoption Day event. May 5, 2005, the team hosted a semi- Court Improvement Project Team (See page 3 for details.) nar, “Focus on Substance Abuse.” continues to meet quarterly, with the Speakers included representatives from Prevention, Communication and Re- Louisa’s Best Practice Court Judge Pulaski County High School and the source Subcommittees meeting Susan Whitlock worked with local at- New Life Recovery Program, and a monthly. A seminar for GALs, attor- torneys to host a fourth grade class for methamphetamine expert from the Vir- neys, social workers, probation officers a mock trial. The students had recently ginia Department of Emergency Man- and school personnel, entitled “A Fo- visited Colonial Williamsburg to ob- agement. cus on Foster Care and Local Child serve a 17th Century trial, and their and Family Resources” was held on teachers felt that it would be beneficial Richmond J&DR District Court’s May 16, 2005. In addition to planning for them to compare that experience “Millennium Team” has been making this seminar, the team has been work- with a modern day court proceeding. changes to the court’s dockets to sup- ing to create a video for abuse and The Louisa Best Practice Courts Team port more informed court hearings. All Continued on page 3 was recognized in the local newspaper, Best Practice Court Matters, Fall 2005 Page 3

Initiatives) Or it “Teenagers in Foster Care and Best can be a locally Practices for Out-of-State Placements focused event as and Courtroom Practice” will be the the Pulaski focus of the jointly-sponsored event of Team is devel- the Wise and Tazewell Best Practice oping. A team Courts on April 11, 2006. Interdiscipli- may choose to nary participants from the 29th and 30th plan a retreat or Judicial Districts will hear from Gerald other smaller Mallon, DSW, Executive Director of event to conduct the National Resource Center for Foster strategic plan- Care and Permanency Planning in New ning about fu- York City on “Facilitating Permanency ture local court for Older Adolescents” in conjunction improvement with a local panel presentation. Judge Circuit Court Judge, Hon. Wilford Taylor and the Hon. Jay Dugger con- gratulate this adoptive and her two children. activities and to Stephen Rideout, Judicial Consultant invigorate its with the ABA Center on Children and Adoption—continued from page 1 local team. Or there may be a special the Law, will serve as a resource for the Hampton celebrated 38 adoptions at its resource that the team wishes to de- day and address best practices for inter- Adoption Day Celebration, attended by velop collaboratively to support quality state placements of children in this area over 150 people. This is the third year decision-making by the court in child of the Commonwealth that shares bor- Hampton has hosted such an event. dependency cases. CIP/OES looks for- ders with four other states. Other lo- Prince William hosted its 2nd Adop- ward to hearing about each team’s cally-developed topics will also be pre- tion Day Event along with the 31st Ju- plans and to reporting this good work. sented. “ dicial Circuit Court, City of Manassas, City of Manassas Park, and Prince Wil- 2006 LOCAL INITIATIVES Local Activities—continued from page 2 liam County Depts. of Social Services. neglect cases which will include a The event included the finalization of 9 Babes in Law Land – “Meeting the mock foster care hearing; to develop a adoptions and recognition of recent Needs of Young Children in Our policy regarding maintaining foster adoptions.“ Courts” is the theme of an event set for children in their home schools; to es- February 20, tablish a media- Mini Grants—continued from page 1 2006, sponsored tion program for maltreatment and the placement of by the Bedford foster care cases; children in foster care and to the en- and Campbell and to create and hancement of a timely, effective litiga- Best Practice publish a re- tion process. Staff support from CIP/ Courts and the source manual OES is available to support the plan- Family Law for DHS workers ning and conducting of local events. Section of the and GALs.

Lynchburg Bar CIP staff can support access to excel- Association. The Winchester/ lent speaker resources, to include the Among the Frederick Best National Council of Juvenile and Fam- speakers in the Practices Team ily Court Judges and National Child daylong pro- continues to Welfare Resource Center on Legal and gram open to the meet every other Judicial Issues. Judge Stephen W. courts, bar and month focusing Rideout (ret.) Alexandria J&DR Dis- agencies of the The Hon. Richard B. Potter, Circuit Court Judge in Prince on the theme, trict Court, now a national consultant, 24th Judicial William County, shakes hands with a child at the 31st “Better Out- is an exceptional resource as one of Judicial District’s Adoption Day Celebration. District are comes for Kids,” Virginia’s own and is most interested Victoria Youcha Ed.D., Zero to Three with subcommit- in working with the Best Practice Foundation, Washington, DC; Dr. tees meeting monthly. The Delin- Courts. Each Best Practice Court team Robert Marvin and Dr. William Whe- quency/Truancy Subcommittee is member and lead judge is also a poten- lan of the Child Parent Attachment working with local DSS to understand tial resource to other teams for mentor- Clinic, Department of Psychiatric the reasons that children before the ing and training in the community. Medicine at UVA; and Philip Stahl, court for truancy and delinquency are

PhD., Child Clinical Psychologist from being placed in foster care. Sixty-five The nature of these local initiatives is South Florida, who will address “Age people attended the “Community limited only by the imagination of Appropriate Visitation for Young Chil- Based Services Forum for Juveniles” the local teams. It can be a judicial dren.” Break out sessions are also hosted by Judge Elizabeth Kellas and district wide event, such as has been planned on topics of interest to the in- Judge William Sharp. Judge Bill planned by Bedford/Campbell and vited 200 participants. Wise/Tazewell. (See 2006 Local Continued on page 4 Page 4 Best Practice Court Matters, Fall 2005

COURT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM STAFF BEST PRACTICE COURT MATTERS... RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL INITIATIVES

...is published by the • Developing agendas and identifying initiative Court Improvement Program participants Office of the Executive Secretary Supreme Court of Virginia • Developing program topics and contacting 100 North Ninth Street, Third Floor speakers Richmond, Virginia 23219 • Creating and/or mailing invitations Director: Lelia Hopper Editor: Jane Lissenden • Assembling notebooks Telephone: (804) 786-6455 Website: www.courts.state.va.us E-mail: [email protected] • Contacting speakers

BEST PRACTICE COURTS OF VIRGINIA • Copying materials for distribution Alexandria Henrico Staunton/Augusta Bedford Louisa Tazewell Campbell Newport News Virginia Beach • Obtaining attendee “gifts” Charlottesville/Albemarle Prince William Warren Culpeper Pulaski Waynesboro Please let CIP/OES know as soon as a local event is Fairfax Richmond Williamsburg/James City scheduled. Make sure to allow plenty of time for Fredericksburg Roanoke/Salem Winchester/Frederick CIP to complete all tasks. Hampton Stafford Wise/Norton

Local Activities continued from page 3 NEW BEST PRACTICE place Hon. Anne B. Hol- Logan also attended. The forum was to COURT LEAD JUDGES ton who will become the educate the stakeholders on what ser- We want to welcome First Lady of Virginia. vices are currently being offered for three new judges to the The Hon. Gerald F. Dal- children and families in the community Best Practice Court Pro- tan, Jr. takes over the role and to open the discussion about what gram. The Hon. Henry of lead judge for Staf- additional services are needed. As a A. Barringer joins the ford J&DR result of the forum, a master list is be- Best Practice Court Program as the lead District Court. He re- ing developed, which lists all persons judge for Tazewell J&DR District places Hon. J. Martin in attendance and their contact informa- Court. Judge Barringer replaces the Bass who was elected to tion. The team is organizing a training Hon. Teresa Chafin who was elected to the Stafford Circuit Court for GALs in early 2006 and pursuing the Circuit Court bench. The Hon. J. Bench. with its local bar association a super- Stephen Buis, Photo Left: Judge Buis vised visitation program.“ Richmond, will re- CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT INSTITUTE Judge Janice Brice of Prince William 2006 CALENDAR OF EVENTS: J&DR District Court was this year’s Best Practice Court representative at the 2005 • February 1—Statewide meeting of Family Drug Treat- Child Abuse and Neglect Institute in ment Court Teams—Richmond Reno, Nevada. This annual institute is sponsored by the National Council for Ju- • February 20—“Babes in Law Land”-Bedford and venile and Family Court Judges. Judge Campbell Best Practice Courts and the Family Law Brice said: “The weeklong course was a Section, Lynchburg Bar Association good opportunity to address the issues that judges confront in abuse and neglect cases, from initial filing to termination • April 11—“Teenagers in Foster Care; Best Practices of parental rights”. She went on to say that “the use of real in Out-of-State Placements and Courtroom Practice” - case studies from around the country and the resultant dia- Wise and Tazewell Best Practice Courts logue between judges from different states also provided invaluable insight on how to address common problems [faced by juvenile court judges]”. Best Practice Court lead • May 5—Local Training Event—Pulaski Best Practice judges interested in attending this Institute in June 2006 Court may call 804-786-5304 or email [email protected]. va.us for more information. Articles and photos of local activities are always welcome.