Superior Court seeks county approval for two state grants funding dependency services and courthouse security

Rita Shipley, budget and finance director for the Superior Court, briefed the Board July 17 on two grants the courts seek the Board’s approval to accept and administer. Shipley said one is a Court Improvement Program grant that provides roughly 60% of wages and EREs for a dependency coordinator position and a $12,500 contracted attorney amount to support a Dependency Alternative Program that helps keep children out of foster care by identifying alternative caregivers or services. "The goal of this program is to keep kids out of foster care and reunited with their parents," Shipley said. The second is a competitive Court Security Improvement Grant from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Shipley said the security grant is intended to help the courts meet AOC security standards after a risk analysis; it will fund remaining ballistic protection around judicial benches and related work in the justice courts (Benson, Willcox and Bowie) as phase 4 of a courthouse security project that has already completed security stations and some ballistic installations. Shipley said both grants were on the regular agenda for Board approval; the Board received the briefing and asked procedural questions about staffing, reporting and whether statistics about juvenile diversion and dependency outcomes could be provided to supervisors. Shipley said the position funded by the improvement grant helps coordinate services with Department of Child Safety and community partners and that court staff can provide statistics on outcomes to the Board upon request.