Justice for Children: Changing Lives by Changing Systems

A Pre-Summit Assessment Survey was distributed to all state court administrators in May 2005, to provide a context for the September 2005 National Judicial Leadership Summit and a basis for developing an action plan by the state teams participating in the Summit. A total of 36 jurisdictions returned a completed or partially completed survey.

The responses indicated widespread interest in improving outcomes for children and families involved in the child welfare system, and reflect collaborative activity between the judiciary and other branches to make improvements in the system resulting both from the implementation of court improvement programs in state judiciaries and more recently from the need to respond to child and family service reviews.

While the survey responses highlight the variety in system structures and procedures in the states affecting the particular approaches that have been undertaken to improve the handling of child welfare cases, common themes emerge relating to the challenges faced by the states. Rigorous analysis of the demographic data was not possible, in view of the lack of data in many states and the variety of forms in which the data is maintained in the states. The fact that basic data is not uniformly available at the state or national level presents a significant challenge for the state judiciary's efforts to improve system performance.