Court programs

Children's Court Improvement Program

In 1995, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Director of State Courts Office applied for and received grant funding under the federal Court Improvement Program (CIP) to improve the handling of child abuse and neglect, termination of parental rights and adoption cases in the court system. The highest court of appeal in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico currently participate in the program administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau.

Use the bookmarks below to explore the Children's Court Improvement Program:

Children in Court: In Their Own Words video

In this eight-minute video, entitled Children in Court: In Their Own Words, ten young adults who were placed in foster care as children reflect on their experiences in court. View the video.

The Clock Is Ticking: Making Permanency Hearings Meaningful training materials

The Clocking is Ticking:  Making Permanency Hearings Meaningful, a three-hour training curriculum, was developed by the Children's Court Improvement Program to promote effective and qualitative permanency hearings, encourage youth participation in court proceedings, and to identify strategies to achieve timely permanence for children in foster care.  Attached are materials distributed at the training sessions. The following documents are all in PDF Adobe PDF format.

Wisconsin Commission on Children, Families and the Courts

The mission of the Wisconsin Commission on Children, Families and the Courts is to identify and address barriers to safety, permanency, and child and family well-being within the judicial, legal and child welfare systems. This multi-disciplinary Commission fulfills the funding requirement of the federal Children's Court Improvement Program by demonstrating meaningful, ongoing collaboration among courts, child welfare agencies, and tribes. The Commission currently meets semi-annually and has three subcommittees. View the committee membership list.

Permanency Workgroup
The Permanency Workgroup is charged with examining the inter-relationship of social work, legal, and judicial practice and address issues raised in Wisconsin's 2010 Child and Family Services Review related to achieving permanency for children in out-of-home care. The Permanency Workgroup will serve in an advisory role and make recommendations related to development of policy, resource materials, statutory changes, and training curricula.

Topics to be addressed by the Workgroup include, but are not limited to, concurrent planning, permanency plan review quality and timeliness, trial reunification, termination of parental rights petition filing process, caregiver notice of hearings, youth participation in court proceedings, and guardianship. This multi-disciplinary committee is comprised of state, county, and tribal representatives working in the child welfare and court systems. The Permanency Workgroup is cosponsored with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

Out-of-Home Care and Education Subcommittee
The purpose of the Out-of-Home Care and Education Subcommittee is to heighten judicial awareness of the educational challenges faced by children and youth in out-of-home care and to develop strategies and resources for how courts can help improve educational services through effective judicial oversight. The subcommittee created a checklist on educational stability Adobe PDF in June 2010 (revised January 2012).

Guardian ad Litem oversight resources

The Committee of Chief Judges and District Court Administrators convened a subcommittee to identify best practices and develop resources to assist circuit court judges as they oversee guardians ad litem appointed under the Wisconsin Children's Code (Chapter 48) or Juvenile Justice Code (Chapter 938). The issue of judicial oversight of guardian ad litem performance was raised as a result of findings from Children's Court Initiative reviews.

The following documents were created or modified by the subcommittee and approved by the Chief Judges on November 23, 2009. Use of the following resources is voluntary and any document may be amended to reflect local practice, with the exception of the standard court forms which may not be modified.

Children's Court Initiative

Mission statement
The mission of the Children's Court Initiative (CCI) is to assist the court system and those providing services to it in achieving safety, permanence, due process, and timeliness outcomes for children and families in child welfare proceedings.

Project description
The Children's Court Initiative (CCI) is a comprehensive county circuit court review process designed to strengthen court processing in child welfare and termination of parental rights cases. The project establishes safety, permanency, due process, and timeliness performance measures that are based on best practice principles outlined by the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, as well as areas evaluated in both the federal Child and Family Services Review and Title IV-E audit related to court practice. The achievement of the performance measures is assessed and tracked through court file reviews, court observation, surveys, focus groups, and data analysis from the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP). CCI staff members work in partnership with the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Continuous Quality Improvement staff to implement both quality assurance programs together.

Project reports
The Children's Court Initiative (CCI) Summary Report, which compiles the data, findings, and best practices from the CCI on-site reviews conducted in 71 counties, was issued in January 2012.

The following documents are all in PDF format Adobe PDF:

Children's Court Initiative (CCI) Summary Report
Appendix A - CCI Performance Measures
Appendix B - CCI Court File Review and Court Observation Instruments

To learn if a county-specific report is available, contact CCIP Policy Analyst Bridget Bauman.

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Confidentiality Project

In 1999, the Children's Court Improvement Program and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Children's Justice Act grant cosponsored the Confidentiality Project. A multi-disciplinary advisory committee was established and charged with clarifying confidentiality provisions related to child in need of protection or services cases in Wisconsin statutes, regulations, and practices. In 2006, a guidebook for professionals and a client brochure were completed. Although the advisory committee has disbanded, the guidebook is updated semi-annually.

The following documents are in Adobe PDF format Adobe PDF:

Guide to Confidentiality Laws Applicable to CHIPS Proceedings (October 2011)
Parent/Guardian pamphlet

Related sites

Organizations

Laws/documents

Contact information

Children's Court Improvement Program
Office of Court Operations
110 E. Main St., Suite 410
Madison, WI 53703

Michelle Jensen Goodwin, Director
Phone: (608) 266-1557
Fax: (608) 267-0911
E-mail: michelle.jensen-goodwin@wicourts.gov

Bridget Bauman, CCIP Policy Analyst
Phone: (608) 267-1958
Fax: (608) 267-0911
E-mail: bridget.bauman@wicourts.gov

Amy Roehl, CCIP Policy Analyst
Phone: (608) 264-6905
Fax: (608) 267-0911
E-mail: amy.roehl@wicourts.gov

Terri Wilcox, Program Assistant
Phone: (608) 261-0692
Fax: (608) 267-0911
E-mail: terri.wilcox@wicourts.gov

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