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Tennessee expands Safe Baby Courts as state data show faster permanency and more family visits
Summary
State juvenile court manager Stephanie Etheridge told a Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth meeting that Safe Baby Courts — a problem‑solving model for infants and toddlers — will grow from 26 to 32 sites statewide and that program data show shorter time to permanency and rising family contact metrics.
Stephanie Etheridge, juvenile court manager at the Administrative Office of the Courts, told the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth that the state’s Safe Baby Court initiative is expanding and producing measurable improvements in reunification and family contact.
"We currently have 26 safe baby courts across the state. We are in the process of adding 6 more," Etheridge said, describing the model as a community‑based, non‑adversarial approach focused on infants and toddlers and on prevention work in addition to foster‑care cases. She said Tennessee adopted the national 0 to 3 model and kept its core components while adding a prevention emphasis.
The program relies on interdisciplinary teams — judicial and child‑welfare leadership, local coordinators, peer recovery specialists and community partners — to speed services,…
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