Dependency Court Research Articles

“My heart is in the right place, but I don’t feel the court’s heart is beating”: perspectives on feeling valued from multiple nonprofessional stakeholders in child welfare court

ABSTRACT Though the experiences of individual non-professional stakeholders involved with dependency courts overseeing child protective services cases have been documented, this article provides a unique comparison across four non-professional stakeholder groups. Through analysis of focus groups and individual interviews, we compare the perspectives of birth parents (n=6), kinship caregivers (n=14), young adults removed from their homes as children (n=15), and foster parents (n=57) involved with the dependency courts in Maryland. Despite their different roles, the experiences of all groups are characterized by common themes including time, consistency, role, voice, and what is best under the broader context of feeling valued.

Impact of COVID-19 on Florida family dependency drug courts

BackgroundTo promote parent-child reunification, family dependency drug courts (FDDCs) facilitate substance use disorder treatment for people whose children have been removed due to parental substance use. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted FDDC operations, forcing FDDCs to quickly adapt to new circumstances. Although existing research has examined COVID-19 impacts on adult drug courts and civil dependency courts, studies have yet to examine the impact of COVID-19 on FDDCs specifically.MethodsTo explore the impact of COVID-19 on FDDCs, we conducted 20 focus groups and 5 individual interviews with court team members from five Florida FDDCs between 2020 and 2022. Data were analyzed using iterative categorization.ResultsFive overarching themes emerged. First, FDDCs adopted virtual technology during the pandemic and more flexible drug screening policies. Second, virtual technology was perceived as improving hearing attendance but decreasing client engagement. FDDC team members discussed a potential hybrid in-person/virtual hearing model after the pandemic. Third, COVID-19 negatively impacted parent-child visitation opportunities, limiting development of bonds between parents and children, and parent-child bonding is a key consideration during judicial reunification decisions. Fourth, COVID-19 negatively impacted the mental health of court team members and clients. Court team members adopted new informal roles, such as providing technical support and emotional counseling to clients, in addition to regular responsibilities, resulting in feeling overwhelmed and overworked. Court team members described clients as feeling more depressed and anxious, in part due to limited visitation opportunities with children, which decreased clients’ motivation for substance use recovery. Fifth, COVID-19 decreased recruitment of potential clients into FDDCs.ConclusionsIf FDDCs continue to rely on virtual hearings beyond the pandemic, they must develop practices for improving client engagement during virtual hearings. FDDCs should preemptively develop procedures for improving parent-child visitation during future public health crises, because limited visitation opportunities could weaken parent-child bonding and, ultimately, the likelihood of reunification.

The cost of closed doors: Media access to dependency courts linked to indicators of accountability and public awareness

AbstractGiven the broad consensus about protecting children from abuse and neglect and safeguarding parental rights, the scarcity of funding for the US child welfare system indicates a lack of public awareness into child dependency as a pervasive social problem. The contribution of closed dependency courts to this public disengagement is measurable in state‐level differences in child welfare outcomes. By comparing states with open versus closed dependency courts, this study tests whether media and public access to hearings is associated with greater public awareness, measured in more state and local funding for child protective services, and greater accountability, measured in lower rates of child fatalities.

가정법원의 문제해결·후견적 기능 제고를 위한 과제

In the 21{st} century, juvenile crimes, delinquencies, and domestic violences have much more attracted social attention, which cannot be separated from the changed social environment, where, on the one hand, the traditional ‘head of family’ system not only as a social entity, but also as a legal system has eventually been abolished in 2005, and where, on the other hand, the conflict between traditional and new value system has arisen as the ideology of democracy, equality, and respect to human rights has rapidly entered the Korean society since the end of 20ᵗʰ century. In other words, the traditional way of dealing with problematic behaviors of adolescents and family members against other family members has begun to face limitations. Coincidently, the problem-solving function of the family court has been emphasized. This paper is the result of research, whereby what systemic change would be required to have the family court dealing with juvenile cases, dependent children cases, and domestic violence victim cases function as the problem-solving court and what roles the family court investigators should play for this purpose have been investigated. This paper sought to make clear that the fact that juvenile cases, dependent children cases, and domestic violence victim cases are under the jurisdiction of the family court reflects the unique Korean state parent idea. In this regard, Korean family court’s cases mentioned above are similar to western juvenile courts and dependency courts, which have developed in close relation with the state parent idea. That being said, western state parent idea has developed as with the local authorities’ intervention into families for the protection of abused and delinquent children, and juvenile courts and family courts have played as assistants and facilitators for local authorities to do partnership with families as the state parent idea changed, whereas the state parent idea has developed in Korea only in the judicial proceedings for abused and delinquent children cases, where public prosecutors and judges play role as state parents. Based on this unique development, this paper argues that transforming the family court into the problem-solving court is recommended to facilitate local authorities intervening into family matters for the protection of abused and delinquent children and domestic violence victims. For this purpose, this paper suggests that the legal provisions related to the proceedings and protection measures of juvenile cases, child abuse cases, and domestic violence cases should be reformed for partnership between the state and families to materialize. Furthermore, this paper suggests that expertise of family investigators should be developed to facilitate the suggested reformation, and that the social welfare and protection function of family courts, which have been introduced in some family courts to meet immediate needs of protecting vulnerable parties and participants in the proceedings, should be delegated to an independent support agency under the court.

Barriers to medications for opioid use disorder in the court system: provider availability, provider “trustworthiness,” and cost

BackgroundMedications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) significantly decrease mortality but courts rarely refer participants with opioid use disorder to MOUD providers. Previous qualitative work suggests routine court referrals to MOUD providers are more likely if court team members perceive providers as “trustworthy.” Court team members may also be less likely to refer participants to MOUD if they consider MOUD unaffordable, particularly in Florida, which has not expanded Medicaid. Our aims were to explore court team members’ 1) perceptions of availability of local trustworthy MOUD providers, 2) characteristics associated with perceptions of availability of local trustworthy MOUD providers, including beliefs about MOUD efficacy, and 3) perceptions of MOUD affordability.MethodsAn online survey was distributed to all criminal problem-solving court and dependency court team members in Florida in 2019 and 2020. Likert scale questions assessed respondent agreement with statements about the availability of any MOUD providers, the availability of trustworthy MOUD providers, and the affordability of MOUD for court participants. An open-ended question explored MOUD barriers. Spearman’s rho, Friedman, Kruskal Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for analyzing quantitative data and iterative categorization for qualitative data.ResultsOne hundred fifty-one respondents completed quantitative questions (26% response rate), and 42 completed the qualitative question. Respondents were more likely to agree that local MOUD providers are more available than trustworthy MOUD providers. Perceptions of trustworthy provider availability differed significantly by MOUD type and were associated with MOUD efficacy beliefs. Qualitative results suggest that MOUD providers offering counseling and individualized treatment are more trustworthy.ConclusionsCourt team MOUD beliefs may influence their perceptions of providers, or negative experiences with providers may influence court team MOUD beliefs. Improving court team perceptions of local MOUD providers may be critical for facilitating court participant treatment access.

The Afterlife of Decriminalisation: Anti-trafficking, Child Protection, and the Limits of Trauma-informed Efforts

ABSTRACT Numerous laws have passed to move away from criminalising youth who trade sex. Specialised courts have also been established to support youth. Despite proponents' contention that specialised, trauma-informed courts are less punitive than typical interventions, research is limited. This article explores one specialised dependency court's efforts to assist youth ‘at risk’. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic observations, I argue that laws and trauma-informed court interventions intensify the supervision of youth and families while inadvertently concealing the gendered-racialised effects of child welfare system involvement. Ethnographic findings contribute to sociolegal and anti-carceral feminist research on carceral control beyond the criminal legal system. This work also explores the ethics of carceral-trauma entanglements that accompany decriminalisation’s afterlife.

Whose opinion matters about medications for opioid use disorder? A cross-sectional survey of social norms among court staff

Background: Criminal problem-solving and dependency courts set treatment standards for opioid use disorder (OUD) but sometimes prohibit or limit utilization of medications for OUD (MOUD). Court staff beliefs about MOUD inform court treatment policies. Court staff MOUD policies may also be influenced by social norms, meaning perceptions of opinions of other individuals/entities about MOUD, including opinions of fellow staff in their court, staff in other courts, the state supreme court, other state agencies, the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP), federal agencies, and local peer support groups. To date no study has examined social norms among court staff with respect to MOUD. Methods: We distributed an online cross-sectional survey in 2019 to all criminal problem-solving and dependency court staff in Florida. Respondents were asked to identify the extent to which they cared about different entities’/individuals’ opinions about MOUD and the extent to which they perceived each of those entities/individuals as encouraging MOUD. We hypothesized that court role and court type would be associated with responses. We used descriptive statistics, logistic regressions, and difference of proportions tests to analyze data. Results: 20% of the population (n = 119) completed the survey. Respondents cared most about the opinions of external treatment providers with whom they collaborate, fellow staff in their court, and the NADCP regarding MOUD. Fewer than half felt that any of these entities/individuals encourage methadone or oral buprenorphine. Additionally, fewer than 11% of respondents felt that local twelve-step peer support groups encourage the use of any form of MOUD. Conclusions: MOUD education should target all members of court teams, including collaborating treatment providers. Since court staff care relatively little about the MOUD opinions of staff in other courts, changes in opinions in one court may not affect changes in opinions in a neighboring court. The NADCP should more explicitly state its support for MOUD, and specifically oral buprenorphine and methadone treatment.

Parental sobriety and Parent-Child reunification in dependency court: Does the 15-month Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) rule support parent-child reunification?

With the number of Americans suffering from addiction at an all-time high, child protective and social services agencies need a coordinated response to ensure that children spend less time in foster care. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 sought to improve the permanency process by specifying a timeline to parental reunification. The ASFA 15-month rule places limitations on the time frame in which a parent must achieve sobriety before parent-child reunification can occur. The present study assesses the impact of the ASFA 15-month rule on children’s permanency outcomes among children placed in out-of-home care due to parental substance use. First, we examine whether there are differences in permanency outcomes across the various circumstances that lead to out-of-home placements. Next, we explore whether child characteristics influence parent-child reunification based on the reason for out-of-home placement. Results show that alternate permanency solutions to parental reunification are more likely for younger children and when multiple children are removed from the home. Implications for these findings are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Criminal problem-solving and civil dependency court policies regarding medications for opioid use disorder

Background: Criminal problem-solving courts and civil dependency courts often have participants with substance use disorder (SUD), including opioid use disorder (OUD). These courts refer participants to treatment and set treatment-related requirements for court participants to avoid incarceration or to regain custody of children. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the most effective treatment for OUD but are underutilized by court system participants. Little is known about variation in court policies for different MOUDs. Also, more information is needed about types of policies for each MOUD, including whether participants may begin MOUD, continue previously begun MOUD, or complete the court program with MOUD. Methods: An online survey was distributed to criminal problem-solving and civil dependency judges in Florida in 2019 and 2020, yielding data from 58 judges (a 24% response rate). We used nonparametric statistics to test hypotheses with ordinal data. A Friedman's test for related samples or Cochran's Q was used to make within-group comparisons between policies and MOUDs. Results: We found considerable policy variation, with more permissive policies for naltrexone than buprenorphine or methadone, and more permissive policies for continuing MOUD than for initiating MOUD or completing a court program with MOUD. For each medication, less than one quarter of judges indicated their court always permits MOUD, with most indicating that MOUD is permitted sometimes or usually. Conclusion: Because respondents rarely chose “never” or “always” for any MOUD policy, most courts appear to be making MOUD decisions on a case-by-case basis. A clearer understanding of this decision-making process is needed. Some court participants may be required to discontinue MOUD before completing a court program, even if they were permitted to start or continue MOUD treatment. Discontinuation of MOUD without medical justification is contrary to the standard of care for individuals with OUD and increases their risk of overdose.

The Impact of Child‐Parent Psychotherapy on Child Dependency Court Outcomes

AbstractAlthough parental compliance with court orders in child welfare cases is key to achieving physical parent‐child reunification and successful case closure, little research has examined how parent‐child relationship‐focused rehabilitative services uniquely influence case outcomes. This project fills this gap by investigating links between court ordering of and parental participation in Child‐Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) with court outcomes. Data were obtained from court records of 448 court‐involved parents. Hierarchical regressions revealed that greater participation in CPP led to reunification and successful case closure but not faster case closure. Courtroom professionals should consider parent‐child relationship‐based therapies as tools for achieving child welfare goals.

A longitudinal study of justice characteristics among girls participating in a sex trafficking court program

BackgroundSex trafficking is a public health and social justice issue that has traditionally been addressed with criminal justice solutions. Because many sex trafficking survivors are incarcerated for crimes related to their exploitation, specialty, human trafficking courts were developed to offer resources and assistance to labor and sex trafficking survivors. This study assessed justice-involved youth participating in a specialty, anti-trafficking court program. The purpose of this study was to investigate justice-related outcomes of participants in a specialty court program. We examined: (1) the relationship between age at first citation and justice characteristics (number of bench warrants, number of citations, number placements, and number of times ran away); and (2) the number of months between first citation and enrollment into the program with the aforementioned justice characteristics. We used negative binomial models to estimate the relationships between age at first citation, number of months between first citation and program enrollment, with the four justice characteristics (n = 181).ResultsAdjusted models showed that younger age at first citation was associated with significantly more bench warrants and citations while in the program. Likewise, fewer months between first citation and program entry was related to more bench warrants and citations.ConclusionsThere is a need to evaluate the appropriateness of specialty, trafficking court programs in reducing continued justice involvement and these programs ability to meet the evolving needs of sex trafficking survivors over time. We recommend universal screening for trafficking indicators for all systems-involved youth and relocating trafficking specialty courts out of juvenile courts to dependency courts.

Responding Effectively to Trauma Manifestations in Child Welfare Cases

This article defines trauma and how it manifests in the dependency court system. Trauma is prevalent in child welfare cases and all of the professionals on these cases can respond to the trauma they see and experience more effectively through a better understanding of how to regulate the nervous system and the body. Trauma often manifests as difficult behaviors in the dependency court world, but there is a lack of information for effective strategies to deal with it. This article discusses how families and professionals experience trauma in dependency court and provides tools rooted in a physiological understanding of trauma. It will help professionals notice and respond to trauma in themselves and others.

Guest Editors’ Introduction to the 2020 Special Issue on Dependency Courts

Guest Editors’ Introduction to the 2020 Special Issue on Dependency Courts

Judging in a Time of COVID

The pandemic of 2020 has turned much of the world upside down and courts have had to find new ways to meet obligations to the law and the people they serve. This is especially difficult in child welfare courts, where children’s needs cannot be delayed. This reflection piece addresses the challenges faced by all the dependency court participants in a COVID environment.

Beliefs about medications for opioid use disorder among Florida criminal problem-solving court & dependency court staff

ABSTRACT Background Criminal problem-solving and dependency (child/dependent) court staff refer clients with opioid use disorder (OUD) to treatment and set treatment policies. Negative beliefs regarding the safety and efficacy of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) have previously been reported in court staff. MOUD is superior to other OUD interventions, is severely underutilized, and is highly effective even in the absence of behavioral treatment. Objective We examined Florida court staff MOUD beliefs, exploring associations with court type and staff role. We also explored beliefs about the relationship of MOUD to child reunification, counseling, polysubstance use, and titration requirements. Methods We modified a previously developed cross-sectional survey. We fielded the online survey among all Florida criminal problem-solving and dependency court staff. Likert scale questions were asked about beliefs regarding methadone, buprenorphine, and extended-release naltrexone. We analyzed responses using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results 154 individuals (26% of the population) responded. Only 1/3 believed MOUD was more effective for OUD than nonpharmacological treatment. 31% believed methadone treatment makes it difficult for parents to regain child custody. Criminal problem-solving court staff were more likely to report certain positive beliefs about naltrexone. Fewer than 10% felt any MOUD should be permitted without counseling. Over 60% felt prescribers should have tapering plans for each MOUD patient. Beliefs were generally more positive for naltrexone than buprenorphine, and more positive for buprenorphine than methadone. Conclusions Court staff need education about MOUD efficacy. Policymakers should prohibit courts from banning MOUD and from preventing child reunification for parents utilizing MOUD.

Examining the legal representation of youth in foster care: Perspectives of attorneys and attorney guardians ad litem

Despite recent federal policy changes related to improving the quality of legal representation afforded youth in foster care, few empirical studies have examined the topic. This exploratory national study examined the perceptions of attorneys who represent foster youth (N = 934) about the legal representation of foster youth involved in dependency court proceedings. Variables of interest included impact of legal representation on foster care, perceived quality of legal representation afforded foster youth, and perceived quality of the relationship between attorneys and the youth they represent, among others. Data were analyzed for descriptive statistics and comparisons in perceptions, by demographics (e.g., race, age, etc.) and professional characteristics (e.g., years of experience, jurisdiction representation model, etc.). Overall, data suggest that participants typically agreed that legal representation can be impactful to the overall foster care experience. However, current quality of that representation was rated lowest among all variables. Notably, group differences were detected by gender and jurisdiction representation model. Findings indicate the need for focus on more robust training models, targeted policies, and further research on the legal representation of youth in foster care.

Receipt of training about medication for opioid use disorder from pharmaceutical manufacturers: A preliminary study of Florida criminal problem-solving and dependency court staff.

People with opioid use disorder are prevalent in criminal problem-solving courts and dependency courts, which have rehabilitative aims. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is the standard of care. Court staff set treatment policies for court clients. They may receive training from MOUD manufacturers, but no studies have examined court staff receipt of such training. To examine receipt of training from MOUD manufacturers, we designed a cross-sectional survey for court staff. We distributed it online to all Florida court staff in criminal problem-solving or dependency courts (n = 585). Outcome variables were receipt of training from one or more MOUD manufacturers and training source. Covariates included dichotomous measures of court type, staff role, gender and rurality. Logistic regression models estimated the relationship between receipt of training and covariates. Twenty-one percent of Florida criminal problem-solving and dependency court staff completed the survey. The most common receipt of training was from the manufacturer of extended-release naltrexone (36%), followed by buprenorphine (24%) and methadone (11%). Fifty-seven percent of those who received training received it from more than one MOUD manufacturer. Criminal problem-solving court staff were more likely than dependency court staff to receive training from MOUD manufacturers. Court program co-ordinators were more likely than other staff roles to receive training from MOUD manufacturers. A large minority of respondents received training from a MOUD manufacturer, primarily from extended-release naltrexone's manufacturer, raising concerns regarding information accuracy and conflicts of interest. Court staff should seek MOUD training from academic institutions and non-profit organisations instead.

Reconsidering success for an integrated family dependency treatment court

Parental alcohol and substance use is a significant contributing factor for child removal. Family Dependency Treatment Courts (FDTCs) offer an interagency approach to treating parental substance abuse after child removal and addressing the comprehensive needs of children and their parents, with the ultimate goal of family reunification. There is a dearth of FDTC evaluation studies that examine permanent placement outcomes s as compared to other traditional family courts. The current study used a matched sample of 72 FDTC and dependency court participants to assess whether participation in the FDTC program is associated with an increased chance to achieve permanency and a shorter time to permanency compared to families who were brought before the dependency court. Results indicated no significant difference between groups when time to reunification was examined. However, once families were enrolled in FDTC, they achieved permanent placement faster than the comparison group. These results put question to the guidelines and prior research that specify preference for reunification over other permanent placements as well as highlight where court procedures may be streamlined in order to reduce the time a child spends in transitional placement. Implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice are also discussed and future research is suggested.

Early childhood court in Florida: Qualitative results of a statewide evaluation

BackgroundChild maltreatment, removal from the home and foster care placement are all associated with poor physical and developmental outcomes for children. Early Childhood Court (ECC) is a specialized, trauma-informed, team-based approach designed to meet the unique needs of young children and their families in the dependency court system. ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to evaluate the ECC program in 20 Florida circuits. Participants and settingParticipants in the evaluation were 53 ECC professionals (e.g., judges, attorneys, mental health providers, caseworkers, etc.) and 9 parents and caregivers. Focus groups were conducted in person, and interviews were conducted either in person or on the phone. MethodsInterviews and focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with a hybrid deductive/inductive process using MAX QDA. Two coders (trained doctoral student researchers) established inter-coder reliability with a Kappa greater than 0.80 and used an iterative process to discuss, refine, and describe each theme throughout the analysis. ResultsParticipants described who is involved in ECC and most discussions focused on professional versus parent/caregiver team members. Participants also described how ECC is different from traditional dependency court and several themes, such as Child and Family Friendly, Judicial Leadership, and a Team-Based Approach, aligned with the national model. Emergent themes were Relationships and Success. ConclusionsFuture research could explore the selection of parents into ECC.

Understanding how social worker compassion fatigue and years of experience shape custodial decisions

BackgroundCompassion fatigue (i.e., a worker’s diminished ability to empathize with clients) is common among “helping workers” and can result in psychological detachment from clients as a coping mechanism. ObjectiveIn the present research, we explored the relationship between social workers’ compassion fatigue and years of job experience on hypothetical child custody case judgments. Participants and settingIn two separate studies, individuals with experience working with children in child dependency court (predominantly social workers, Study 1: N = 173, Study 2: N = 119) were recruited on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and read a vignette depicting a mother attempting to regain custody. ResultsSupporting hypotheses, compassion fatigue significantly mediated the relationship between increased years of social worker job experience on recommendations that a neglectful mother receive custody, Indirect Effect = .06, CIs [.026, .127] (Study 1). We also found preliminary support for our hypothesized theoretically derived serial path model, in which (a) social worker compassion fatigue predicts anticipated secondary traumatic stress associated with the child neglect case, B = .54, p = .0001; (b) secondary traumatic stress predicts detachment from the neglected child, B = .27, p = .0003; (c) detachment from the child predicts job efficacy cynicism B = .65, p < .0001; and (d) job efficacy cynicism predicts decisions to allocate custody to the neglectful mother, B = .46, p = .005 (Study 2). ConclusionOur research shows that compassion fatigue among social workers may change the lens through which they perceive cases of child abuse.