|
The Arizona Model Court Program
In March 1997, the Pima County Juvenile Court was selected as a site for
"Model Court" implementation. The goal of the Model Court Pilot was to
design a dependency court process that resulted in active judicial oversight,
timely case processing, and shorter temporary placements for children. An
interim assessment of the pilot program revealed significant positive changes in
the dependency case processing.
|
Before Model Court |
|
After Model Court |
|
3.2
years to move a dependent child through the court system
|
 |
Reduced
to 1.6 years |
|
First
meaningful hearing did not occur until 90 days after filing dependency petition
|
|
5
to 7 days (Preliminary Protective Hearing) |
|
Continuances
granted in 70% of cases
|
|
No
continuance policy |
|
Parents
and family not considered "players"
|
|
Extended
family involved from the start |
|
Additionally 60% of children are placed in relative or kinship care within 60
days of filing and contested hearings have dropped 60%.
Model Court practices were a catalyst to several changes in Arizona's dependency
case processing:
- one judge one family,
- substantive preliminary protective hearings
within five to seven days of removal,
- a requirement that attorneys meet with their
clients prior to the preliminary protective hearing,
- provide the parents supervised visits with their
children prior to the preliminary protective hearing,
- require a CPS case plan to be submitted prior to
the preliminary protective hearing and establish that family services are
immediately put into place,
- Court calendar modifications to reduce
continuances,
- development of an automated data collection
system to improve the tracking of dependency cases.
Due to Pima County's success, the Model
Court process has been made the standard for dependency cases in every Arizona
county.
|
