While many families encounter child welfare and never become involved in the legal system, a large majority of open child welfare cases are court involved. This means that most of the major decisions being made about children and families are occurring the court room.
Lately, we've all seen a lot of news, discussion and stories about trauma-informed judges and trauma-informed courts. Trauma-informed courts are important everywhere, but especially in child welfare.
As a child welfare worker, do you know how much of an understanding your attorney, a child's attorney, or the attorney for the parents has of trauma-informed screening, assessment and treatment?
As an attorney in child welfare, is this something you take into account when representing the agency, children or parents?
If you are a child welfare lawyer representing children, parents, or the child welfare agency, understanding how traumatic experiences may impact your clients will help you frame your advocacy.
Understanding children and their parents’ histories of exposure to potentially traumatic life events and how those events have impacted the client’s functioning—in school, in interactions with other people, and as parents—can be critical to framing your approach in the case. Evidence of the client’s trauma history and any compromised functioning that may have resulted from that trauma is critical to integrate into your advocacy.
Click here to read the whole article published by the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. Although intended as a guide for attorney’s, this article offers an easily digestible legal perspective for anyone who touches court involved child welfare cases; from Attorney's, to Social Workers, Service Providers, Foster Parents, or CASA's.
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