Reduce Court Delays

Court delays can have a significant impact on time to reunification. Policymakers can hold courts and child welfare agencies accountable for ensuring that families have timely and substantive court hearings, and that court delays do not stand in the way of timely reunification or other permanency goals.

What Can Policymakers Do?

• Require timely permanency hearings. New York ’s “ Permanency Legislation ” requires a permanency hearing to be held within eight months of a child’s placement in foster care (rather than eight months) and every six months thereafter. It also specifies the contents of the permanency hearing reports to the court and requires the child welfare agency to provide the reports to the court and all attorneys at least 14 days before the hearing. The permanency legislation contains many other procedural changes aimed at reducing bureaucratic delays within the courts. The California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care is a statewide panel, made up of judicial, legislative and administration leaders, which developed politically viable and fiscally responsible recommendations to improve the court’s role in achieving better outcomes for children in foster care.

• Provide adequate legal representation for all parties. Mississippi law requires that all parties are represented by counsel at all stages of the dependency proceedings [i] .