The Effect of Courtroom Dynamics on Child Maltreatment Proceedings

Social Service Review

Volumn 71, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 288-308

  Knepper, Paul E ^a   Barton, Shannon M ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0007579181     PISSN: 00377961     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/604252     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. Mark Hardin, How to Work with Your Court: A Guide for Child Welfare Agency Administrators (Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, 1993), p. 1.
2. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
3. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
4. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
5. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
6. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
7. Edith Fein and Anthony N. Maluccio, "Permanency Planning: Another Remedy in Jeopardy?" Social Service Review 66 (September 1992): 335-48; Leonard P. Edwards, "Improving Implementation of the Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980," Juvenile and Family Court Journal 45 (1994): 3-28; Mark Hardin, "Ten Years Later: Implementation of Public Law 96-272 by the Courts," in The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, ed. North American Council on Adoptable Children (St. Paul, Minn.: North American Council on Adoptable Children, 1990); Inger J. Sagatun and Leonard P. Edwards, Child Abuse and the Legal System (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1995); James R. Seaberg, "'Reasonable Efforts': Toward Implementation in Permanency Planning," Child Welfare 65 (September-October 1986): 469-79; Alice C. Shotton, "Making Reasonable Efforts in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases: Ten Years Later," California Western Law Review 26 (1989-1990): 223-56.
8. Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 344; Sagatun and Edwards (n. 2 above), pp. 11-12; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 64.
9. Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 344; Sagatun and Edwards (n. 2 above), pp. 11-12; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 64.
10. Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 344; Sagatun and Edwards (n. 2 above), pp. 11-12; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 64.
11. Sagatun and Edwards (n. 2 above), pp. 11-12.
12. James Eisenstein and Herbert Jacob, Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Court (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); James Eisenstein, Roy B. Flemming, and Peter F. Nardulli, The Contours of Justice: Communities and Their Courts (Boston: Little, Brown, 1988); Thomas Church, "Examining Local Legal Culture," American Bar Foundation Research Journal (1985): 449-518; Edward Clynch and David Neubauer, "Trial Courts as Organizations: A Critique and Synthesis," Law and Policy Quarterly 3 (1981): 69-94.
13. James Eisenstein and Herbert Jacob, Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Court (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); James Eisenstein, Roy B. Flemming, and Peter F. Nardulli, The Contours of Justice: Communities and Their Courts (Boston: Little, Brown, 1988); Thomas Church, "Examining Local Legal Culture," American Bar Foundation Research Journal (1985): 449-518; Edward Clynch and David Neubauer, "Trial Courts as Organizations: A Critique and Synthesis," Law and Policy Quarterly 3 (1981): 69-94.
14. James Eisenstein and Herbert Jacob, Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Court (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); James Eisenstein, Roy B. Flemming, and Peter F. Nardulli, The Contours of Justice: Communities and Their Courts (Boston: Little, Brown, 1988); Thomas Church, "Examining Local Legal Culture," American Bar Foundation Research Journal (1985): 449-518; Edward Clynch and David Neubauer, "Trial Courts as Organizations: A Critique and Synthesis," Law and Policy Quarterly 3 (1981): 69-94.
15. James Eisenstein and Herbert Jacob, Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Court (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977); James Eisenstein, Roy B. Flemming, and Peter F. Nardulli, The Contours of Justice: Communities and Their Courts (Boston: Little, Brown, 1988); Thomas Church, "Examining Local Legal Culture," American Bar Foundation Research Journal (1985): 449-518; Edward Clynch and David Neubauer, "Trial Courts as Organizations: A Critique and Synthesis," Law and Policy Quarterly 3 (1981): 69-94.
16. Thomas Church, Justice Delayed: The Pace of Litigation in Urban Trial Courts (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 1978); Malcolm Feeley, Court Reform on Trial (New York: Basic, 1983); Jeffery T. Ulmer and John H. Kramer, "Court Communities under Sentencing Guidelines: Dilemmas of Formal Rationality and Sentence Disparity," Criminology 34 (1996): 383-407.
17. Thomas Church, Justice Delayed: The Pace of Litigation in Urban Trial Courts (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 1978); Malcolm Feeley, Court Reform on Trial (New York: Basic, 1983); Jeffery T. Ulmer and John H. Kramer, "Court Communities under Sentencing Guidelines: Dilemmas of Formal Rationality and Sentence Disparity," Criminology 34 (1996): 383-407.
18. Thomas Church, Justice Delayed: The Pace of Litigation in Urban Trial Courts (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 1978); Malcolm Feeley, Court Reform on Trial (New York: Basic, 1983); Jeffery T. Ulmer and John H. Kramer, "Court Communities under Sentencing Guidelines: Dilemmas of Formal Rationality and Sentence Disparity," Criminology 34 (1996): 383-407.
19. Paul Johnson and Katharine Cahn, "Improving Child Welfare Practice through Improvements in Attorney-Worker Relationships," Child Welfare 74 (1995): 383-94; David Herring, "The Michigan Agency Attorney Project," in Children Can't Wait: Reducing Delays in Out-of-Home Care, ed. Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson (Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America, 1993).
20. Paul Johnson and Katharine Cahn, "Improving Child Welfare Practice through Improvements in Attorney-Worker Relationships," Child Welfare 74 (1995): 383-94; David Herring, "The Michigan Agency Attorney Project," in Children Can't Wait: Reducing Delays in Out-of-Home Care, ed. Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson (Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America, 1993).
21. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 244.
22. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 244.
23. Sagatun and Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 11.
24. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 3.
25. Joan Barthel, For Children's Sake: The Promise of Family Preservation (New York: Edna McConnel Clark Foundation, 1992), pp. 10-15.
26. Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 224.
27. American Bar Association (ABA), America's Children at Risk: A National Agenda for Legal Action (Chicago: ABA Presidential Working Group on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children and Their Families, 1994), p. 50.
28. W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Families for Kids of Color: A Special Report on Challenges and Opportunities (Battle Creek, Mich.: W. K. Kellogg Foundation, 1994).
29. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4.
30. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 7; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 66; Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338.
31. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 7; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 66; Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338.
32. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 7; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 66; Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338.
33. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
34. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
35. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
36. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
37. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
38. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 6; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 61; Shotton (n. 2 above), p. 225; Seaberg (n. 2 above); Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 338; Katharine Cahn and Paul Johnson, "Critical Issues in Permanency Planning," in Cahn and Johnson, eds. (n. 7 above).
39. Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), pp. 55-56, 64.
40. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 7; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), pp. 58-59.
41. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 7; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), pp. 58-59.
42. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 56.
43. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4; Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), p. 56.
44. Hardin, "Ten Years Later" (n. 2 above), pp. 54, 64.
45. Fein and Maluccio (n. 2 above), p. 343.
46. Heidi Redlich, "Summary of Progress on State Court Projects to Improve Child Abuse and Neglect Litigation" (Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, 1995).
47. Mark Hardin, Improving State Courts' Performance in Child Protection Cases: User's Manual for Conducting Your Court Assessment (Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, 1995), p. 4.
48. Nancy Gall-Clayton, "An Analysis of Kentucky's Dependency Statutes for the New Practitioner," Kentucky Children's Rights Journal 1 (1991), p. 6; details found in Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 620.020(7).
49. Gall-Clayton (n. 25 above), p. 6.
50. Barthel (n. 11 above), p. 61.
51. Commonwealth of Kentucky, Family Preservation and Family Support Services Annual Progress and Services Report, 1996 (Frankfort, Ky.: Cabinet for Families and Children, 1996), pp. VI-2.
52. Eisenstein and Jacob (n. 5 above), p. 20.
53. Ibid., pp. 24-38.
54. David W. Neubauer, America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System (Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1996), pp. 72-75; see also Clynch and Neubauer (n. 5 above).
55. David W. Neubauer, America's Courts and the Criminal Justice System (Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1996), pp. 72-75; see also Clynch and Neubauer (n. 5 above).
56. Neubauer (n. 31 above), pp. 72-75.
57. Neubauer (n. 31 above), pp. 75-76; Clynch and Neubauer (n. 5 above).
58. Neubauer (n. 31 above), pp. 75-76; Clynch and Neubauer (n. 5 above).
59. Hardin, Improving State Courts' Performance (n. 24 above). For a full discussion of Kentucky's methodology and copies of instruments, see Paul Knepper and Shannon M. Barton, Kentucky Court Improvement Project: First Year Assessment and Recommendations (Frankfort, Ky.: Administrative Office of the Courts, 1996).
60. Hardin, Improving State Courts' Performance (n. 24 above). For a full discussion of Kentucky's methodology and copies of instruments, see Paul Knepper and Shannon M. Barton, Kentucky Court Improvement Project: First Year Assessment and Recommendations (Frankfort, Ky.: Administrative Office of the Courts, 1996).
61. To identify the population of CASA volunteers in the state, the evaluation team requested volunteer lists from each of 10 project directors. Lists received contained the names of 190 volunteers. For several reasons, the survey population did not include a significant number of volunteers from across the state. First, in one large urban county, the project director wished to preserve the anonymity of volunteers. Fifty questionnaires were sent to the director and were distributed by the director. This increased the survey population to 240 but precluded the possibility of follow-up contact for these 50 volunteers. Second, one program had only recently been organized, and no volunteers had yet been recruited. Third, project directors in some areas failed to respond to the evaluation team's requests for volunteer lists. The evaluation conducted a focus group with CASA volunteers in an urban location in order to supplement the CASA survey data.
62. Office of the Attorney General, Legal Representation of Kentucky's Children: A Guide for the Guardian Ad Litem (Frankfort, Ky.: Office of the Attorney General, Victims Advocacy Division, 1992), p. 5.
63. The five sites were: Jefferson, Bracken, Pike, Kenton, and Todd Counties. One site consisted of two counties. The evaluation team initially selected Todd County, a rural county with a small caseload in the western portion of the state. During the course of data collection, the evaluation team learned that both judges maintained offices in Logan County, a neighboring county, which together with Todd County makes up the judicial district. Given the overlap, the evaluation team conducted interviews and focus groups with caseworkers in both counties.
64. Meaningful case-processing data could not be gathered from the Administrative Office of the Courts database for several reasons. First, the jurisdiction with the largest dependency, abuse, and neglect caseload used a document-imaging information system that is currently incompatible with the system used at the Frankfort-based Administrative Office of the Courts. Second, cases cannot be tracked within the Administrative Office of the Courts database because of the way the files are set up. For example, the number of days between filing of the initial abuse, neglect, or dependency petition and the termination of parental rights petition cannot be computed because these events occur in separate courts (district and circuit) and the cases are entered under different names (child and parent).
65. Edwards (n. 2 above), p. 4.
66. On December 8, 1995, Governor Paul E. Patton signed an executive order that divided the Kentucky Cabinet for Human Resources into two cabinets: the Cabinet for Families and Children and the Cabinet for Health Services. The Cabinet for Families and Children is the primary state child welfare agency for operating social services for families and children. We collected the data for this study beginning Summer 1995 and ending Spring 1996. Throughout this period, research subjects continued to refer to this state's child welfare agency as the Cabinet for Human Resources, the Department for Social Services, or more simply as "CHR," "DSS," or "the Cabinet."
67. Edwards (n. 2 above), pp. 4-5.
68. See n. 2 above. Guidelines for effective implementation of P.L. 96-272 have been developed by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) in collaboration with the Child Welfare League of America, Youth Law Center, and the National Center for Youth Law in Making Reasonable Efforts: Steps for Keeping Families Together and the NCJFCJ, Resources Guidelines: Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases (Reno, Nev.: National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, 1995).
69. Johnson and Cahn (n. 7 above).
70. Paul Knepper and Shannon Barton, Interim Report on Kentucky's Cross-Training Initiative: Curriculum Development and Pilot Session (Frankfort, Ky.: Administrative Office of the Courts, 1996).