On Friday, June 1, the Nebraska Court Improvement Project (CIP) hosted the summer gathering of the Supreme Court Commission on Children in the Courts at the Judicial Branch Education facility on Central Park Drive. The Honorable Doug Johnson, Douglas County Separate Juvenile Court and the newly appointed, Honorable Francie Riedmann, Nebraska Court of Appeals presided over the commission meeting.

The meeting consisted of reports from several subcommittees, including the Unified Family Court Subcommittee, the Guardian ad Litem Subcommittee, the Case Progression Standards Subcommittee, the Parenting Act Subcommittee, the State-Tribal Relations Subcommittee, and the Guardianship Subcommittee. Department updates consisted of reports from the Court Improvement Project, Administrative Office of Probation, and the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.

Mary Ann Harvey and Matt Lewis, both Project Specialists with CIP, presented a legislative review of the child welfare and juvenile justice bills that were introduced this legislative session and their impacts on children in the courts. You can view the recorded webinar version of this review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWghz3BDaw&feature=youtu.be

CIP Director, Deb VanDyke-Ries, presented information on the Family First Prevention Services Act. Family First includes long-overdue historic reforms to help keep children safely with their families and avoid the traumatic experience of entering foster care. It also emphasizes the importance of children growing up in families and helps ensure children are placed in the least restrictive, most family-like setting appropriate to their special needs when foster care is needed. Family First builds on the original version of the bill passed in the House of Representatives in June 2016 (H.R.5456). You can download a summary of the Family First Prevention Services Act here: https://supremecourt.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/Programs/CIP/family-first-detailed-summary.pdf