NCJ Number
209997
Date Published
2004
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This newsletter examines the difficulty and expense for Ohio juvenile courts to modify existing automated systems or develop new systems that can track child dependency cases as envisioned by recent Federal legislation and Ohio statutes.
Abstract
Recent Federal and Ohio laws pertinent to child dependency cases have emphasized the timeliness and effectiveness of judicial oversight to ensure the necessity and appropriateness of child out-of-home placements as well as prompt efforts to provide such children permanent placements through reunion with their family or in foster homes or adoptive homes. Few courts, either nationally or in Ohio, have developed the automated capacity required to adequately track their dependency caseload, the length of time a child has been in placement, a child's current case plan goal, the permanency decision, and the reason for case closure. Each of Ohio's 88 juvenile courts is responsible for developing or procuring its own automated case tracking system. The Ohio Supreme Court's Technology Resources Division staff is available to provide technical assistance at no cost to local courts. There are distinctive characteristics of dependency cases that make designing an automated tracking system particularly complex and expensive. There must be a linking of siblings to each other and a family unit; accounting for multiple children named as defendants; tracking time between critical case events and legal status expiration dates by child; the linking of supplemental filings; a chronological tracking of changes in court-approved case permanency plans and reasons for changes; a chronological tracking of a child's time in placement, placement changes, and reasons for them; recording and tracking decisions pertinent to the issues of "contrary to the welfare of the child" and "reasonable efforts;" and a comprehensive range of quality assurance, aging/case tracking, and summary statistical reports on case progress. 23 notes