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Court News Ohio
New Guidelines
Seek to Improve How Courts Process Child Abuse and Neglect Cases
By Bret Crow
June 16, 2016
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has released
updated guidelines to help courts improve their handling of child abuse
and neglect cases.
The “Enhanced Resource Guidelines” build on an earlier document and
combine it with previously issued adoption and permanency guidelines to
account for the most recent changes or additions in legal requirements.
The report provides guidance for judges on how to:
• make decisions regarding safety, permanency, and well-being at every
stage of the process.
• develop effective findings based on assessment of the facts, the
individual needs of the child and family, the law, and the best
available research and science.
hold other players in the system accountable by asking questions that
raise the practice expectations for all those who come to court.
• “The guidelines cover all stages of the court process, from the
preliminary protective hearing until juvenile and family court
involvement has ended,” according to the report. “The guidelines assume
that the court will remain involved until after the child has been
safely returned home, placed in a new, secure, and legally permanent
home – whether through adoption or legal custody – or the court’s
jurisdiction has otherwise ended.”
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