Child-Centered Practices for the Courtroom and Community: A Guide to Working Effectively with Young Children and Their Families in the Child Welfare System

How can early childhood professionals provide the best possible services and supports to families in the child welfare system? This guidebook has the practical, real-world answers professionals need as they navigate the complex system, work with the courts, and plan interventions and treatment for the most vulnerable young children and families.

Developed by a psychologist, a judge, and an expert on early intervention and education, this accessible practitioner's guide introduces early childhood professionals to the coordinated, evidence-based practices used successfully in Miami's juvenile court and child welfare community. As they follow a gripping case study of one young mother and her children, readers will see in vivid detail why effective, integrated services are needed to improve child and family outcomes. Then, with practical tips and guidance from the perspective of the court, the clinician, and the early intervention expert, readers will discover how to

• plan and implement a coordinated system of care
• advance a more therapeutic approach to child welfare in the courtroom and community
• choose and implement an evidence-based parenting program
• improve relationships between children and parents by implementing Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
• successfully navigate a court appearance, from understanding the thoughts and perspectives of the judge to delivering effective testimony
• build trusting, supportive relationships with families
• improve children's early access to quality care and education programs
• lead reform efforts toward a more child-centered child welfare system
• decrease the incidence of burnout and compassion fatigue

Readers will also get sample forms and checklists they can use as models to enhance their everyday work with families and children (see list below).

With these practical tools and evidence-based strategies, professionals will ensure coordinated, high-quality services that improve the child welfare system and have long-lasting positive effects on young children and families.

Includes an appendix of practical sample forms such as

• Clinical Interaction Checklist
• Sample Court Orders
• Court Report Templates
• Decision-Making Tree for CPP and Parenting
• Sample Relationship-Based Assessment
• Individualized Family Support Plan and Evaluation Report
• Healthy Start Referral Form
• Order for Part C Evaluation

• and more

Dr. Katz is Director of the University of Miami’s Linda Ray Intervention Center and a research assistant professor in the department of Psychology with a secondary appointment in Pediatrics. Since 1993, she has been Director of the early intervention service and research project at the Center for children at risk due to prenatal cocaine exposure. In her leadership role as an early intervention specialist, she has worked to create linkages with community stakeholders serving high-risk young children in the child welfare system. She has served as Principal Investigator of the Miami Safe Start Promising Approaches site, providing early intervention clinical services for children exposed to violence and maltreatment at community domestic violence and homeless shelters where young children and their families reside. Dr. Katz has coordinated the Strengthening Families and Ages and Stages programs for the Juvenile Court’s Dependency Drug Court Initiatives. She was Director of the Miami site of the Florida Infant and Young Children’s Mental Health Project, funded by the state legislature through the Florida Department of Children and Families. She was an active collaborative partner in the development of the Miami Juvenile Dependency Court Parenting Initiative. Dr. Katz has served as Co-Chair of the Community-Based Care Alliance of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. She is a recipient of the Wall of Honor Award presented by the Miami Juvenile Court for her contributions to the development of quality programs for young children in foster care. She has also received awards at both the State of Florida and regional Dependency Court summits for her service to children and families in her community.

Judge Cindy S. Lederman is a Circuit Court Judge in the State of Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Judge Lederman has served in the Miami-Dade Juvenile Court since 1994, including 10 years as the Court’s Presiding Judge. Elected to the Miami-Dade County Court in 1988, before her elevation to Circuit Court in 1994, she was a leader of the team that created the Dade County Domestic Violence Court and served as that Court’s first Presiding Judge. Judge Lederman’s interest in bringing science and research into the courtroom results from her 10-year involvement with the National Research Council (NRC) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) at the National Academy of Sciences. Judge Lederman was a member of the NRC’s Committee on the Assessment of Family Violence Interventions and panel on Juvenile Crime, Treatment, and Control and served from 1996 to 2004 on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the NRC and IOM. In 1999, Judge Lederman was awarded a fellowship from ZERO TO THREE: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families in their Leaders of the 21st Century program. She served as the former president of the National Association of Women Judges, faculty member of The National Judicial College, and former member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. In addition, Judge Lederman was a 6-year member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Judge Lederman graduated with high honors from the University of Florida in 1976 and with departmental honors in Political Science, and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1979. She is licensed to practice law in the states of Florida and New York.

Dr. Osofsky is a psychologist and psychoanalyst and Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC). She is Head of the Division of Pediatric Mental Health. She is also an adjunct professor of Psychology at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Osofsky is Co-Director of the Louisiana Rural Trauma Services Center, a center in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and Director of the Harris Center for Infant Mental Health at LSUHSC. She is editor of Children in a Violent Society (Guilford Press, 1997), two editions of the Handbook of Infant Development (Wiley, 1979, 1987), and co-editor of the four-volume WAIMH Handbook of Infant Mental Health, which received the Association of American Publishers/Professional and Scholarly Publishing PROSE Award as the best multivolume reference/science book in 2000. Dr. Osofsky’s edited book, Young Children and Trauma: Intervention and Treatment (2004), includes contributions related to mental health, child welfare, the judiciary, and law enforcement. Dr. Osofsky was editor of the Infant Mental Health Journal from 1998 to 2009.

Dr. Osofsky is Past President of ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families and Past President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health. She served on the Pew Commission for Children in Foster Care. Dr. Osofsky has conducted research, intervention, and clinical work with high psychosocial risk infants, children, and families exposed to maltreatment and community and domestic violence. For the past 18 years, she has been consulting and collaborating with juvenile courts around the country, including the 11th Circuit Juvenile Court in Miami/Dade County, related to the development and evaluation of programs to benefit high-risk young children and families in court. In 2002, she published jointly with two judges and two lawyers a technical assistance brief, Questions Every Judge and Lawyer Should Ask About Infants and Toddlers in the Child Welfare System

(see Appendix A). In 1998, Dr. Osofsky was awarded the Badge of Honor by the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation for her work with children and families exposed to violence. In 2002, she was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Mayor of New Orleans for her work with the police and the community and the Nicholas Hobbs Award for contributions to public policy by Division 37 of the American Psychological Association. In 2006, she was presented with the Child’s Heart Award by the Juvenile Court Judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit in recognition of her contributions to enhancing the health and well-being of children. Following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Dr. Osofsky was asked to serve as Clinical Director for Child and Adolescent Initiatives for Louisiana Spirit for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Mental Health, and the Department of Education. On August 29, 2006, she was honored with a proclamation from the New Orleans City Council recognizing her work helping children and families in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In November 2007, she received the Sarah M. Haley Memorial Award for Clinical Excellence from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies for her work with trauma. In September 2008, she received an award from LSUHSC for extraordinary effort and commitment during Hurricane Gustav. In June 2009, for their work in schools following Hurricane Katrina, the LSUHSC team from the Department of Psychiatry was awarded a 2009 Distinguished Partners in Education Award by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education of the State Department of Education. In 2010, Dr. Osofsky was honored with a Presidential Commendation from the American Psychiatric Association for leadership in mental health recovery following Hurricane Katrina and was awarded the distinction of Honorary President of the World Association for Infant Mental Health.