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Child Abuse Training for Judicial and Court Personnel

Award Information

Award #
2015-CT-FX-K001
Location
Congressional District
Status
Open
Funding First Awarded
2015
Total funding (to date)
$4,627,576

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2015, $1,296,891)

The Child Abuse Training for Judicial and Court Personnel program furthers the Department's mission by developing training and technical assistance to improve the judicial system's handling of child abuse, neglect, and related cases. The grantee will select targeted courts that will serve as demonstration sites to receive the technical assistance and training. The activities and deliverables will rely and build upon the emerging body of evidence-based practice relating to dependency court reform. The grantee will design a project consistent with the OJJDP priority for a coordinated court process, which will encourage a synchronized effort among court professionals, including judges, prosecutors, defenders, law enforcement, social workers, probation officers, and other stakeholders to minimize trauma and promote a successful outcome for children in contact with the court system. Aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge of the complex issues confronting families served by juvenile and family court systems and the impact prior adverse experiences can have on families over the life-course and across generations, the training and technical assistance (TTA) will provide judges and court personnel with a wide-range of skills to address the diverse and unique needs of families that experience child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, domestic child sex trafficking, and other traumatic experiences. In addition, TTA will focus on improving coordination of cases between agencies, collaborative learning and planning, cultural awareness/competency strategies, understanding disproportionality and disparity, employing family engagement strategies and implementing evidence-based practices.

The proposed project will support demonstration sites to implement practices that are informed by evidence. The goals outlined in the solicitation will be achieved through training for juvenile and family court judges and court personnel, including tribal court judges; in-depth onsite technical assistance; research and evaluation; and national dissemination of strategies to improve court practice. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) will apply a targeted approach to training that is informed by evaluation. They have the capacity to provide direct onsite technical assistance to ensure that learning is subsequently translated into practice. The NCJFCJ has a long history of training judicial and court personnel and will use its expertise to address the constellation of factors judges and court personnel need to take into account when working with children and families in the juvenile and family court system.
CA/NCF

Date Created: September 27, 2015