Training Projects
All Commission activites are funded by one of the three federal Court Improvement Program (CIP) grants — Basic Projects, Training and Technology — that are awarded to the highest court in each state for the improvement of courts' handling of child abuse and neglect litigation. CIP grants are administered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
The Children's Commission sponsors a variety of training opportunities for judges and attorneys, as well as some multidisciplinary training events. The Training Committee oversees the Commission's training programs. The following is a summary of current and annual events.
Judicial Education
Most judicial training is conducted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary.
NCJFCJ Conferences
Judicial scholarships are awarded annually for judges to attend the NCJFCJ National Conference on Juvenile and Family Law and Annual Conference, which will be held in 2012 on March 21-24 in Las Vegas. Scholarships to the conference have already been awarded. The Annual Conference of the NCJFCJ will be held July 15-18, 2012 in New Orleans, LA.
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Beyond the Bench Conference
The Beyond the Bench conference brings together a comprehensive list of stakeholders in the child-protection system from a particular region for a two-day multi-disciplinary training that includes open communication and collaboration, brainstorming, and problem solving as well as discussion of best practices. Stakeholders who participate include judges, prosecutors, CASA, CPS, foster parents, educators, mental health/substance abuse professionals, public health professionals, law enforcement, the Texas Workforce Commission, educators, former foster youth, and parents formerly involved with CPS. TCJ will get planning underway in FY 2012 for a state-wide Beyond the Bench Conference, which will focus on permanency.
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Implicit Bias in Judicial Decision-Making Conference
The goal of the conference is to educate judges about the effect of cultural biases on decision making and how these biases have contributed to disparate outcomes for African American, Native American and Hispanic youth and families involved in the judicial system. Some of the nation's pre-eminent experts presented on race and racism, including its history in the United States, the effects of unintentional biases, current research, and tools judges can use to effect change in their courtrooms, such as the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) Court Catalyzing Change Bench Card. The Implicit Bias Conference was held February 6-7, 2012 in Austin.
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CPS/Associate Judges Conference
CPS/Associate Judges Conference – now called the Child Welfare Judicial Conference – This annual conference will be held June 4-6, 2012 in San Antonio. This year's conference will have national and local speakers presenting on issues such as Reducing Time to Permanency, How to Understand and Utilize Psychological Evaluations, Trauma and the Children of Military Families, and Fostering Educational Success: Improving Education Outcomes for Foster Youth. Judicial resources and tools will be spotlighted and courts will learn about emerging issues in child welfare and how to lead collaborative efforts in their jurisdictions. Attendance at this conference is a prerequisite to be eligible for a scholarship to attend the annual NCJFCJ Conference in New Orleans.
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Office of Court Administration (OCA) Judicial Education
The Office of Court Administration's annual judicial training is usually scheduled in October. The CIP Training Grant funds an annual two-day workshop for CPC judges to cover current multi-disciplinary topics. The next OCA annual training is scheduled for March 2012.
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Drug Court Education
In FY 2012, commission staff will explore the development of a meeting or training as follow up to the Family Drug Court Roundtable held in November 2010.
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Attorney Education
Attorney Practitioner Manual
The Attorney Manual ("The Abuse and Neglect Case: A Practitioner's Guide") was written in Spring 2009 as part of the grant with the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC). The manual is available online on the Commission's website and was made available in print form to attorneys that attended the 2009 NACC trainings in Texas. The manual has been praised by attorneys and judges as a comprehensive guide to the practice. Commission staff is currently in the process of updating the manual and making improvements to enhance its usefulness to practitioners. The updated manual will contain a substantive overview of the law, as well as practical and trial advocacy tips and material included in the curriculum of attorney training developed as part of court improvement projects.
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Attorney Appointment Eligibility Training
Commission staff is helping to develop two training courses on representing parents and children in CPS cases. The courses are designed to satisfy the statutorily required minimum three hours of continuing legal education (CLE) training to be eligible for appointment as an attorney ad litem in CPS cases. While the statutory training requirement has existed for children's attorneys for some time, the requirement for parents' attorneys was just added during the 2011 Legislative Session. The course developed for parents' attorneys, in partnership with the State Bar of Texas, will be the first of its kind.
The parent's attorney course was filmed at the State Bar's studio on November 3, 2011 and is available online on the State Bar of Texas website. The course is titled "Representing Texas Parents in Abuse and Neglect Cases (for Parent Attorney Ad Litem Certification)." The presenters included Rob Galvin, Tricia Heil Davis, Marisa Secco, and Martha Newton.
The child's attorney course will be filmed in the upcoming months. Both courses will be available online through the Texas Bar CLE website, and attorneys seeking appointments will be able to take the course free of charge.
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Permanency Ad Litem Training
In partnership with the Austin Young Lawyers Association and supported by funding from the Texas Young Lawyers Association, Commission staff will also be working on a CLE/orientation course for pro bono attorneys volunteering to take appointments for children in the permanent managing conservatorship (PMC) of DFPS. In some areas of the state, the child's attorney ad litem that served during the beginning of the case is relieved of his or her duties after a final order appointing DFPS, with or without termination of parental rights, is entered. In those instances, the children are in need of advocacy to help achieve permanency goals and have their voices heard. The volunteers will be attorneys from all areas of practice, so the training will be designed to start from the basics and equip the attorneys with the skills and knowledge to advocate for children in the PMC of DFPS.
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Attorney Scholarships
In July 2011, the Training Committee approved use of $50,000 in FY 2012 grant funding for attorney scholarships to attend conferences related to representation of DFPS, children, and parents in child abuse and neglect cases. Although the conferences for which attorneys scholarships will be available in FY 2012 have not been wholly identified, they will likely include:
- NACC Child Welfare Law Conference – The NACC annual conference, which offered nationally known expert speakers on multi-disciplinary topics related to legal representation in child abuse and neglect cases, will be held in August 14-16, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.
- Scholarships for Child Abuse and Neglect Track at Advanced Family Law (AFL) – The day-long Child Abuse and Neglect Track at the State Bar of Texas Annual Advanced Family Law Conference will occur in August 2012 in Houston. Registration scholarships will be offered for the track.
Parent Attorney Leadership Conference
Scheduled September 11-12, 2012 in Dallas, this conference is a joint effort of the CIP programs in Texas and its neighboring states, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The conference will bring together experienced parent attorneys, parents, judges, child welfare agency representatives, and other key stakeholders to receive not only substantive training, but also tips for returning to their home states to work on ways to improve the quality of legal representation for parents.
Trial Skills Training
The Training Committee approved FY 2012 funding for this project at the July 2011 joint committee meeting. A workgroup, led by Justice Michael Massengale of the 1st Court of Appeals in Houston, has met several times since its first meeting in August 2011. The workgroup identified the need to develop curriculum for trial skills training as well as to identify and develop trial skills related resources, including a trial notebook for attorneys who represent parents and children. The workgroup will hold periodic meetings during FY 2012, with a plan to disseminate any trial skills resource materials and curriculum developed by the workgroup in FY 2013.
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SBOT CAN Committee Multi-disciplinary Training
The State Bar of Texas Child Abuse and Neglect Committee will hold its multi-disciplinary conference in October. Funding for this project was included in the FY 2012 budget approved by the committee. The agenda is currently under development.
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