Information (recording, slides, and resources) on the June 6 webinar "Florida’s Early Childhood Courts: Transforming Child Welfare" is now available (and soon to posted in the ACEs Connection webinar section on the homepage). This well-attended and received webinar was sponsored by the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health and co-sponsored ACEs Connection and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP)

 Webinar Summary

Every six minutes in the U.S., an infant, toddler or child under the age of 3 is removed from their homes for alleged abuse and neglect and placed in state custody through the child welfare system (Zero to Three). Florida’s twenty-two Early Childhood Court (ECC) teams serve families with children under three years of age in dependency court. Based on the national Safe Babies Court Team model, Florida’s ECCs help young children to have safe, stable placement in as short a time as possible, using a trauma-informed, developmentally sensitive, attachment-focused approach – an approach designed to and break the multigenerational cycle of child maltreatment. The combination of a trauma-informed judge, a coordinated team approach, child/parent therapy and other wraparound services and supports “flips the script” to heal underlying trauma for parents struggling with substance use and mental health related issues, family violence, and other trauma, and transforms the way dependency courts work. Caregivers can receive these services to strengthen bonds and further support healing, with sensitivity to placement and transitions towards achieving permanency. Compelling data show expedited permanency and reduced subsequent maltreatment. During this webinar, Judge Lynn Tepper and Dr. Mimi Graham will showcase the process and the compelling outcomes of Florida’s Early Childhood Courts.

Presented by:

Mimi Graham, PhD, Director, FSU Center for Prevention and Early Intervention

Dr. Mimi Graham has served as Director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy since 1993, providing leadership to tackle policy solutions to social problems during The First 1000 Days of Life. She oversees a multidisciplinary team with a national reputation as a center of excellence in trauma, maternal health, state policy on best practices for court-involved and human-trafficked pregnant and parenting teens, published: 10 Components of Quality Infant & Toddler Child Careas well as the FSU Partners for A Healthy Baby Home Visitingcurricular series. Dr. Graham co-founded the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health in 2002and built a professional development network in Florida and integrated infant mental health across systems. As a member of the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Children, she created partnerships to create Florida’s Early Childhood Court Initiative, an innovative approach to break the multigenerational cycle of abuse. She also spearheaded a think tank of state and community leaders working to create a trauma-informed state resulting in a compilation of a Showcase of Florida’s Cutting-Edge Trauma Initiatives. She is a Fellow of Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers & Families and has received numerous awards for her work.

Judge Lynn Tepper, Retired

Judge Lynn Tepper retired December 31, 2018 after serving as a Circuit Judge in Florida’s 6th Judicial Circuit for three decades, preceded by 4 years as County Judge in Pasco County. Judge Tepper’s last judicial assignment was to handle all East Pasco cases involving Child Abuse & Neglect, Juvenile Delinquency, all family-related cases including Domestic Violence. From 2012 until 2018 her court was one of six sites in the U.S. selected to implement a “Project ONE” Court [One Judge, One Family, No Wrong Door, Equal & coordinated access to Justice], a National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ model program. Her “Early Childhood Court”, over which she still presides as a “Senior” Judge, was one of the Demonstration Sites with ZERO to THREE. Judge Tepper was appointed in 2018 to the Chief Justices “National Judicial Opioid Task Force”. Judge Tepper has served in virtually every Florida Bar or Supreme Court Committee involved with children, families and domestic violence including the original Florida Gender Bias Study Commission. She teaches and speaks nationally and statewide on Bonding and Attachment of Children, Trauma-Informed Courts and ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), and Human Trafficking. Judge Tepper has received numerous awards in the fields of Literacy, criminal law and social work as well as recognitions from the Florida Supreme Court.

Webinar Recording

To listen to this Webinar, click the link below and follow the instructions on the page (you will be required to fill out a short registration form).
http://www.nationalcenterdvtra...d-domestic-violence/

Webinar Slides
https://drive.google.com/file/...rvY/view?usp=sharing

Resources
https://drive.google.com/file/...YxY/view?usp=sharing