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Judicial Scholarships

Scholarships for Judges

The Children's Commission regularly offers scholarships to judges to attend state and national conferences. Scholarships typically reimburse judges for conference registration fees, and occasionally, for travel-related expenses.

For all scholarships, the Children's Commission determines scholarship criteria and deploys an application process that includes pre- and post-conference evaluations to identify or confirm the knowledge gained from the training, new practices which awardees plan to implement, and/or a current practice which they plan to change. Surveys also inquire about additional topics of interest to help inform planning for future training.

Attendance Policy:

Scholarship opportunities are funded by a federal grant, which is managed by the Supreme Court of Texas Children's Commission. The Children's Commission is responsible for reporting attendance in support of the grant expenses. All scholarship awardees will be expected to participate in the training on the event dates and to provide detailed responses to a post-event survey from the Children’s Commission thereafter.

Please visit the sections below for more information on state and national conferences on child welfare law and related matters. Please note, the Children’s Commission may not offer scholarships to every training listed. If you have questions about scholarships to this year’s events, please email CCscholarships@txcourts.gov.

Information on scholarships will be available on this webpage and also through announcements via the Children’s Commission’s Resource Letters for Judges and Attorneys. To receive notice about scholarships to future conferences and trainings, please sign up to receive Resource Letters from the Children’s Commission.

Past Scholarship Opportunities

TexasBarCLE and the Child Protection Law Section of the State Bar of Texas hosted the Annual Advanced Child Protection Law Course held on March 23-24, 2023 in Houston, Texas which included a 3-hour Child Protection Law 101 Course pre-conference training. Webcast replay for both the 101 Course and the Advanced Course is also available. For more information on both courses, please see the current brochure.

Please note, the registration fees for the courses are waived for Texas judges by TexasBarCLE. Judges wishing to attend the 101 Course or Advanced Course should contact TexasBarCLE directly.

This scholarship is now closed.

Each year, the TexasBarCLE hosts the Advanced Family Law Course, which includes the Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) one-day Workshop. The 2023 CAN Workshop was held on Wednesday, August 9, 2023. For more information and updates, please visit the TexasBarCLE website.

Please note, the registration fee for the CAN Workshop is waived for Texas judges by TexasBarCLE. Judges wishing to attend the Workshop should contact TexasBarCLE directly.

This scholarship is now closed.

The NACC’s 46th National Child Welfare Law Conference was held on August 10-12, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, a second virtual conference will take place on September 20-22, 2023. Registration to attend the in-person conference includes access to the virtual conference in September. More information about each is available on the NACC website.

This scholarship is now closed.

The Children’s Commission offered up to 10 reimbursement scholarships to judges and attorneys to attend the in-person conference in Minneapolis on August 10-12, 2023.

Attendance Policy:

This event is hosted by the NACC. This scholarship opportunity is funded by a federal grant, which is managed by the Supreme Court of Texas Children's Commission. The Children's Commission is responsible for reporting attendance in support of the grant expenses. All scholarship awardees will be expected to participate in the training on the event dates and to provide detailed responses to a post-event survey from the Children’s Commission thereafter.

The reimbursement scholarship of $1,000 will be used to cover registration fees ($475), with remaining funds available for reimbursement of eligible conference-related travel expenses after the in-person event has concluded (up to $525).

A reimbursement form will be provided to awardees and must be submitted to the Children’s Commission within 45 days of travel. For information regarding eligible travel expenses for reimbursement, please review the Commission’s travel reimbursement guidelines

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) hosted the 2023 National Conference on Juvenile Justice on March 19-22, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. The conference featured plenary and breakout sessions on juvenile justice, trafficking, child welfare, highlighting court best practices, innovative solutions, and self-care. More information is available on the NCJFCJ website.

This scholarship is now closed.

The NCJFCJ 86th Annual Conference was held on July 16-19, 2023, in Baltimore, Maryland. This conference generally features plenary sessions on family law, juvenile justice, child welfare, and family violence. More information about the conference is available on the NCJFCJ website.

This scholarship is now closed.

State Board Certification Reimbursement

For more information, please visit the Commission's Texas Board of Specialization webpage.