FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

Organization: Texas Legal Services Center Project: Family Helpline Goal: IV.D.1Grant Amount:

$190,786

Project Description:

The Family Helpline offers free legal information and education over the phone to callers facing Texas CPS cases. The Helpline assists anonymous callers including parents who are not represented by an attorney, relatives and kinship caregivers. The Helpline answers questions about investigations, family-based safety services, temporary managing conservatorship and foster care placements. Since going live in January 2017, helpline attorneys have spoken with over 3,300 individual callers in 183 counties across Texas regarding CPS issues.

Project Activities:

- Provide direct legal services by providing legal information and education toindividuals with child welfare legal questions- Evaluate and analyze data gathered from Family Helpline calls and shareinformation with interested stakeholders- Conduct regional travel for outreach and educational purposes (Helplinestaff will conduct at least one regional outreach trip per quarter)- Expand mailing and distribution of outreach materials throughout the stateand increase marketing efforts- Continue to provide content for Texas Law Help with information regardingCPS matters

Use of Funds:

Personnel & Benefits Travel Data Management System Update Promotional Items/Printing Phone Lines & Computers IT Setup & Support

Organization: Texas Center for the Judiciary Project: Judicial Training Goal: VI.A.1, VII.A.1Grant Amount:

$345,505

Project Description:

- Improve the quality and timeliness of court proceedings by providingtraining and technical assistance to judges hearing CPS cases.- Enhance judicial expertise on topics related to well-being, child and familysafety, and permanency in order to improve outcomes for children andfamilies.- Improve judicial procedure in CPS cases to ensure due process, timelinessto case resolution, and permanency.

FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

- Facilitate collaboration between the judiciary and system partners represented in the courtroom. - Support judicial best practices through education and information sharing.

Project Activities:

- Hold the FY18 Child Welfare Judges Conference. The conference will include a half day training for Child Protection Court judges and a day and a half of training for their coordinators. The Child Welfare Judges Conference is scheduled for November 12-14 and will be held at the Sheraton Austin Georgetown. The conference typically trains 90-100 judges. - Plan a child welfare track at the 2019 Family Justice Conference. This conference typically reaches 125-145 judges and specifically target general jurisdiction judges. TCJ staff will work with the Children's Commission to develop three sessions for a child welfare breakout track. The 2019 Family Justice Conference will be held at the Sheraton Austin at the Capitol on January 14-15, 2019. - Administer the judicial scholarship process for the 2019 NCJFCJ Annual Conference. The 82nd Annual Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida on July 28 – 31, 2019 at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate. TCJ will provide scholarships for 25 judges. - Hold a Child Protection Court (CPC) Convening. The CPC Convening will be held in Austin, TX on July 10-11, 2019. The number of trainees is estimated at 60 CPC Judges and coordinators. - Begin planning process for the FY19 Child Welfare Judges Conference. The FY19 Conference will take place in November of 2019. The exact dates and conference location is TBD.

Use of Funds:

Personnel & Benefits Travel Supplies Speaker Fees Conference Expenses

Organization: Office of Court Administration Project: Office of Court Administration (OCA) Goal: II.F.1-2 Grant Amount:

$267,618

Project Description:

- Continue enhancing the Child Protection Case Management System. The goal of enhancements is to provide the courts with better tools facilitating child and family safety, permanency, well-being, and timeliness to case resolution. - Continue the expansion of video conferencing end-points. This allows for additional children and other interested parties to participate remotely in court hearings.

FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

- The Notice and Engagement web tool provides notice to appropriate (involved) parties of scheduled court hearings in the CP Specialty Courts using the CPCMS system.

Project Activities:

CPCMS Enhancement: - Conduct semi-annual governance meetings to establish priorities for CPCMS enhancements and to report status of governance activities. - Provide at least four (4) software releases during the fiscal year. - Develop a user survey to poll Judges and Coordinators on training, functionality and usability of the system and determine court performance reports that will be most beneficial for Judges to receive as a source of information. - Update training materials for CPCMS users. Video Conferencing: - Broaden usage and continue user support including directory support, setup and test calls. - Conduct a user satisfaction survey to improve user satisfaction and increase usage of the system. - Conduct an equipment accountability audit. - Enhance reporting functionality from video conferencing system log files. Notice and Engagement Tool - Pro-actively monitor system to identify and resolve any issues in a timely manner. - Conduct an evaluation of Notices and Search feature criteria and identify improvements to be made to the tool. - Expand usage and functionality, including reporting features. - Identify additional non-CP courts to continue expanding the use on the Notice and Engagement system through an API.

Use of Funds:

Personnel & Benefits Travel Equipment (Web Cameras, Cellular Hotspot Devices, Programmer Software) Lifesize UVC Video Server Maintenance

Organization: The National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Project: Child Welfare Law Specialist Certification Program Goal: IV.C.2 Grant Amount:

$9,210

Project Description:

NACC seeks to provide this board certification to Texas attorneys and judges who have met the rigorous standards of the CWLS application process and exam, and to provide the opportunity for recertification of CWLS attorneys and judges every five years. NACC seeks to ensure that all parties in Texas child welfare proceedings have access to high-quality legal representation by well-trained attorneys who have demonstrated their expertise in this field by achieving CWLS certification. NACC requests funding from the Children's

FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

Commission to provide partial reimbursement assistance to twenty-nine Texas attorneys and/or judges seeking the opportunity to become certified CWLS. NACC also requests funding to provide partial reimbursement assistance to the estimated seven Texas CWLS who will be recertified in FY2019.

Project Activities:

- Provide each applicant with a softcover copy of Child Welfare Law and Practice, 3rd Edition (the Red Book - the treatise upon which the CWLS exam is based); - Make available the NACC Red Book Training to help applicants prepare for the exam. - Administer and score the exam; - Handle reimbursements to successful applicants.

Use of Funds:

Attorney/Judge Scholarships

Organization: The National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Project: 42nd National Child Welfare Law Conference Goal: VI.B.1 Grant Amount:

$10,000

Project Description:

The NACC conference is designed primarily for attorneys who practice juvenile (dependency and delinquency) and family law. Most NACC members and training attendees dedicate much of their practices to the representation of children and youth, parents, or the state in juvenile dependency, delinquency, or family law cases. NACC will conduct its annual conference in Anaheim, California on August 26-28, 2019. The funds will be used to facilitate the attendance of attorneys who accept court appointments in Texas child protection courts and judges whose docket is comprised primarily and substantially of child protection cases.

Project Activities:

- NACC and the Children’s Commission will publicize the availability of the scholarships to all Texas attorneys and/or judges until available scholarships are gone or the application period has closed, whichever comes first. - The Children’s Commission will conduct the scholarship application process, screen all applicants, and award registration scholarships to the NACC conference based on selection criteria to be determined by the Children’s Commission. - NACC will register for the conference all attorneys identified by the Commission as having received a scholarship to the conference and/or Red Book training.

Use of Funds:

Attorney/Judge Scholarships

FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

Organization: Child Protection Law Section Project: The 2nd Annual Advanced Child Protection Law Conference Goal: VI.A.2 Grant Amount:

NTE $10,000

Project Description:

The Section’s second Annual Advanced Child Protection Law Course, which will be held on March 28-29, 2019 at the Crowne Plaza - Market Center in Dallas, Texas. The goal of the training is to provide attorneys with the education and resources to empower their clients through effective representation and to improve the child welfare system. The two-day conference will focus on topics directly related to child protection. The Section has applied for MCLE. The Child Protection Law Section will develop and distribute a post-survey instrument for the training and provide the Children's Commission with a copy of the survey results.

Project Activities:

The Child Protection Law Section will conduct the following activities to hold the 2nd Annual Advanced Child Protection Law Course: - identify and reserve training venue; - develop agenda; - market training and register attendees; - work with faculty to assist with presentations, facilitate travel, develop course descriptions, gather materials, arrange AV, etc.; - prepare all conference materials; - track and reconcile MCLE hours for conference participants; - prepare conference evaluation materials, distribute at conference, and provide results from evaluations to Children's Commission.

Use of Funds:

Conference related expenses.

Organization: The Texas Center for Child and Family Studies (TACFS) Project: Data Analyst Goal: V.A.1 Grant Amount:

$72,805 (based on $124,809/year at prorated at 7 months)

Project Description:

The Children’s Commission met with interested stakeholders in January 2019 to discuss providing CIP funds to the Texas Alliance for Child and Family Services, through its Research and Policy Division, to hire a data analyst who will have the responsibilities to access publicly available data from DFPS, court-specific data, data from the TACFS, and analyze them in a manner that provides information to the judiciary.

Project Activities:

The analyst will work with CPS Regional Directors and judges to prepare for the annual judicial conference and facilitate discussions between CPS and judges on data, processes, and potential systemic improvements. The

FY2019 Court Improvement Program Sub-Grantees

analyst will also work with DFPS to help make use of court-specific data. The focus on the collection and analysis of court and child welfare-related data is primarily to benefit the judiciary through reports and infographics.

Use of Funds:

Personnel & Benefits Travel