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Child Protection Services and courts outline reforms; AG pilot shows faster path to adoption in pilot counties
Summary
CPS reported gains in caseload standards, reductions in hotel placements and progress on adoption timelines. The Administrative Office of Courts proposed 12 systemwide reforms including full-time youth courts and $8 million for modern case-management technology; the Attorney General's children's-justice pilot reported large drops in custody-to-TPR times where AGO attorneys provided continuous representation.
Commissioner Sanders of Child Protection Services described operational changes that the agency says have reduced caseworker caseloads meeting national standards, cut hotel placements for children and improved licensing timeliness. Sanders said the agency is focusing on data, a bidirectional foster-parent portal and targeted legal support to reduce time children spend in custody.
"If you could shave off unnecessary months... you'd save about $13,300,000," Sanders told the committee, citing an updated average cost per child in care and saying investments in legal and case-management capacity can produce fiscal as well as humane gains.
The Administrative Office of Courts presented findings from multi-party assessments and offered 12 recommendations, with a central call to move to a full-time youth-court system, standardize intake, expand diversion programming, and fund modern youth-court technology (AOC requested $8 million to replace an outdated case-management system). AOC said current variation across counties produces "geographic justice" issues and hampers consistent outcomes.
The Attorney General's office described criminal enforcement work (ICAC and human-trafficking operations) and reported data from a pilot in which AGO attorneys were assigned to CPS cases from shelter hearing through termination-of-parental-rights (TPR) proceedings. Lainie Roussell of the AGO reported that in the counties assigned to the pilot the time from custody to TPR judgment fell by roughly 40-70% in several counties and that the AGO has already obtained legal freedom for more than 600 children for adoption since taking on pilot roles.
Lawmakers asked about licensing for providers, the role of part-time referees versus full-time youth court judges, and options for diversions and statewide data-sharing. AOC and CPS said they will continue cross-agency work and recommended phasing reforms to avoid building technology for a process that could later change.
