Senate Judiciary Hears DCF Support for Child-and-Parent Legal-Representation Task Force

Chairman Hashim told the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee on May 23 that the panel could hear testimony but not vote because members were caucusing. "I believe the Republicans are caucusing at the moment. So we're not able to vote on anything, but we can hear testimony," Hashim said.

Eric Horadke, deputy commissioner of the Family Services Division at the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCF), told the committee that DCF supports a proposed child-and-parent legal-representation task force included in S.109 (session 38 of S.109) and is prepared to participate. "This initiative is a natural continuation of a number of studies commissioned over the past several years," Horadke said, citing the Justice for Children Task Force (2018–2020) and a 2020 review by the National Center for State Courts.

Horadke said the 2020 study recommended investing in high-quality legal representation for parents and children and suggested leveraging federal Title IV-E funds to support multidisciplinary defense and advocacy teams. He told the committee that since 2017 matching funds have been available through the Federal Children's Bureau that could supplement Vermont's general fund investments at roughly a 1-to-1 match. "Strengthening legal advocacy is vital to supporting Vermont's most vulnerable children, youth, and families," Horadke said.

Horadke also described recent declines in the number of children in custody in Vermont, saying custody tallies fell from 1,375 children in 2016 to 885 children today, and framed enhanced legal advocacy as part of prevention and fairness in case outcomes. He said DCF, as the state's designated Title IV-E agency, is prepared to help ensure compliance with federal funding rules and audits if the task force advances policy that would use those funds.

Hashim told witnesses the miscellaneous judiciary bill returned from the House contained roughly 18 pages of new policies and task-force proposals and that the committee had only limited time to take testimony before Friday — "a total of about three or four hours for us," he said — so some items will likely be pared back or revisited next year. The item on child-and-parent representation, Horadke said, is likely to be revisited if it cannot be advanced in the current short window.

Committee staff and members also discussed a separate, short provision added to the bill related to child-support payments that appears on pages 21–22 of the House changes to the Senate bill. Chairman Hashim asked DCF to review specific lines in that section and to provide written testimony by the following Monday or Tuesday so the committee could determine whether to keep the language. Committee staff agreed to send the exact bill version they had to DCF for review; DCF agreed to follow up.

Because the committee did not have a quorum at the time of the hearing, no motion or formal vote was taken on the bill or the task-force proposal. Members instead used the hearing to gather information, identify follow-up tasks and invite written testimony.

The proposal under discussion would create a time-limited task force, guided by the Chief Justice, to bring together agency and community partners to examine evidence-based models of legal representation that emphasize multidisciplinary teams, specialized training, cooperation and accountability. Horadke said such a task force would provide a structured forum to reflect on current practices, identify challenges, and explore models that align with Title IV-E funding requirements.

Next steps recorded in the hearing record included staff sending the House-amended bill version to DCF and DCF providing written comments on the child-support language on pages 21–22 by the requested deadline. Committee members said they expect some provisions in the omnibus judiciary packet to be deferred for further consideration next year given the committee's limited calendar time this week.