Dedicated to improving outcomes for children and families who appear in juvenile and family courts
Thoughts on the Importance of ICWA Active Efforts (Opens in new window)
Remarks at the 2023 California Statewide Tribal-State Judges Virtual Gathering on December 8, 2023, honoring the history of indigenous peoples of California. (Tribal Law & Policy Institute)
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Expansion Project in California Juvenile Courts (Opens in new window)
The County Touchpoints in Access to MAT for Justice-Involved Populations project is focused on outreach, education, and training about opioid addiction and treatment in county criminal justice and human service systems. The project is managed by Health Management Associates and California Health Policies Strategies LLC. (Project overview site)
Over the course of two days from March 7-8, Texas CASA brought together more than 150 CASA and CPS representatives, as well as child welfare partners, to take a deeper look at the Collaborative Family Engagement (CFE) initiative. The 2019 CFE Symposium: Our Community was a transformative, motivational, momentum building learning event!
Webinar on Feb 26, 2019
National Association of Counsel for Children
Vida Castaneda is a Senior Analyst in the Tribal/State Programs Unit with the Center for Families, Children & the Courts and has been employed by the Judicial Council of California since December 2005. She is multi-ethnic and descendant of the Chumash, Ohlone, Tarahumara and Zapotec tribes.
Legal determinations and judicial obligations for relative placement and family finding are required for all children in or entering foster care in both child welfare and juvenile justice proceedings.
On November 28, 2017, the Chief Justice of California, Tani Cantil-Sakauye was the featured speaker in the 2017 Don Edwards Lecture at San Jose State University. She was introduced by SJSU President Mary Papazian and Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez. The conversation was moderated by retired Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Len Edwards.
A Judge Questions a Reluctant Monther about Paternity
Addressing the Bar Association of San Francisco on February 18, 2015
This short video describes the Mentor Parent Program, a unique service provided by the Dependency Advocacy Center in Santa Clara County in its representation of parents in juvenile dependency cases.
The video was developed by the Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts/Court Improvement Program in consultation with the National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues and the National Resource Center for Tribes as an ICWA educational resource for judges, courts, child welfare, and judicial educators. It is the culmination of the ongoing collaboration between the Mississippi Courts, Child Welfare Agency, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and various National Resource Centers, which specifically focus their expertise on educating non tribal entities on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and other issues related to Native American values.
An interview by a representative of the American Bar Association’s Child Law Practice. In it Judge Edwards explains why he wrote his most recent book, “The Role of the Juvenile Court Judge: Practice and Ethics.”
Full version (2005, 29:43 min)
Short version (2005, 13:35 min)
Organizations Focusing on Child Welfare: This video is taken from a presentation by Judge Edwards in Washington. It describes the different governmental and private efforts to improve outcomes for foster youth.
Model Courts: This video taken from a presentation by Judge Edwards describes the Model Court project of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Reasonable Efforts: This video taken from a presentation by Judge Edwards explains the reasonable efforts provision of federal law, how it should be implemented and how critical it is for oversight of social services actions in child welfare proceedings.
Building a Better Court and Judicial Leadership: This video taken from a presentation by Judge Edwards explains the importance of consistent judicial leadership in order to improve juvenile court operations. Judicial rotation is identified as a structural problem that prevents some courts from making significant improvements.
Family Drug Treatment Court Discussion: This video clip also taken from a presentation by Judge Edwards includes questions from the audience about Family Drug Treatment Courts and how they operate.
Group Decision Making: This video clip discusses group decision making models and how families can and should be included in addressing child welfare issues. The article entitled “The Transition to Group Decision Making in Child Protection Cases: Obtaining Better Results for Children and Families,” is a useful companion piece to this video.
Best Practices in Juvenile Dependency Court: This video identifies a number of best practices that have proven effective in juvenile dependency courts across the country.
Wraparound Services
Wraparound services are a new and important approach to working with children who have mental health difficulties. These services have spread quickly throughout the country. This film explains what wraparound services are and how they work with children and families. EMQ Families First of Campbell, California, has spearheaded the development and growth of wraparound services. The staff at EMQ Families First is featured on the video.
Mentor Parent Program
The Mentor Parent Program of Santa Clara County hires graduates from the local Family Drug Treatment Court as mentors to parents entering the treatment court. It is an expansion of the Mentor Mom program started in Santa Clara County over 10 years ago. Through the voices of mentor parents, this video explains why the program has been so successful.
Dependency Mediation
Dependency mediation is one of the best practices that many juvenile dependency courts have used over the past 20 years. Santa Clara County, California, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and San Francisco County, California, are featured in the video along with national experts on mediation.
Achieving Permanency: This video explains the importance of timely permanency for children caught up in the child welfare system. Judge Edwards explains the many reasons why timely permanency is critical for foster youth. The article entitled “Achieving Timely Permanency in Child Protection Cases: The Importance of Frontloading the Court Process,” is a useful companion piece to this video.
Santa Clara County Mentor Parent Program: This video concerns the Family Wellness Court, now operating in Santa Clara County, California. This is a unique Family Drug Treatment Court that deals with substance abusing parents (mostly mothers) whose children are between the ages of 0 and 5. Judge Erica Yew explains how this court focuses on the special needs that young mothers and infants have and the special services that this court provides.
Legal Innovations: This video describes the Santa Clara County Family Drug Treatment Court. Started in the 1990’s, it was one of the first in the nation. This video has been distributed all over the world and was the inspiration for the creation of the first such court in London, England.
Judge Edwards’s Blog 
Resilience Trailer
Resilience Trailer – KPJR Films from KPJR FILMS LLC on Vimeo.
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