Abuse, Neglect, Dependency and TPR Proceedings: Working Through the State of Things

This new judicial college course is designed for and available to those district court judges who preside over abuse, neglect, dependency and termination of parental rights proceedings and chief district court judges who are determining how to allocate court time in their judicial districts. Registration will be limited to these judges.

The purpose of this course is to assist judges in determining how to prioritize and conduct the backlog as well as the prospective hearings that are required to be held in these juvenile proceedings. This course will be interactive and will provide the judges with the opportunity to

• examine what types of hearings in these juvenile actions have been and are being held and what hearings have been backlogged during the time of reduced court scheduling due to COVID-19,
• hear from DSS/DHHS, a juvenile’s GAL, and a parent attorney about their respective perspectives of what should be prioritized,
• create a priority tree of how to move forward in their judicial district, and discuss lessons learned and best practices for how to conduct these hearing in the era of COVID-19.

Registration for this course closed on June 22.  If you have been accepted into the course, you will be notified.