The National Center for State Courts announces the upcoming “Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings,” a comprehensive resource, funded by SJI, developed as an addendum to the Remote Proceeding Toolkit. Child abuse and neglect hearings require additional considerations for effective remote proceedings given their confidential nature and multiple participants. The Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings offers specialized guidance for this case type.
Many courts turned to remote dependency hearings during the pandemic, and many continue to use them to reduce traumatic experiences and barriers for parents facing transportation challenges, lost wages, or childcare difficulties. Developed through careful collaboration with courts across the country, the Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings offers practical solutions for courts seeking to implement or improve remote dependency hearings. It includes detailed recommendations for drafting court policies, selecting appropriate technology platforms, ensuring privacy and security, managing hearing logistics, and enhancing family engagement. The Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings includes a self-assessment tool that allows courts to evaluate their alignment with best practices and identify specific areas for improvement and checklists for judges and attorneys that provide role-specific guidance.
The Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings will be officially released during a webinar on May 13th, 2025, after which it will be available on NCSC’s website. Court professionals interested in previewing the assessment tool or discussing implementation strategies are encouraged to contact Teri Deal at NCSC (tdeal@ncsc.org). During this webinar, you will learn how this resource can help your court design high-quality remote dependency hearings. To access the link to the Ensuring Family Justice in a Virtual World: Introducing a New Court Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings webinar, click here:
https://ncsc-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yvwcO_dXTp-nflrWBXk4Kw.
The Ensuring Family Justice in a Virtual World: Introducing a New Court Guide for Remote Dependency Hearings webinar is being held on: May 13th, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST.
October 1, 2023
In 2020, the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was awarded a State Justice Institute (SJI) Technical Assistance grant to retain the services of Catalis by Court Innovations, Inc. (Catalis) to assist the AOC with developing and implementing an online platform to resolve medical debt disputes in Hamilton County, TN, before a lawsuit is …
September 1, 2023
Rural communities face unique challenges that impact their ability to deliver fair and equitable justice. Despite these challenges, rural communities rely on their many strengths to address the needs of their residents. In 2021, the National Center for State Courts, in partnership with Rulo Strategies, launched the Rural Justice Collaborative (RJC) to showcase the strengths …
July 1, 2023
The National Judicial Network: A Lifeline Helping Judges Better Serve Human Trafficking Victims and Immigrant Victims of Crime and Abuse The National Judicial Network (NJN): Forum on Human Trafficking and Immigration in State Courts offers judges an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning and information sharing. Judges from all over the country who are interested in the …
June 1, 2023
The Good Judge-ment Podcast is an educational, web-based podcast for judges, lawyers, students and nerds of all kinds. The podcast started in 2016 as a supplement to ongoing educational programming for Georgia Superior Court judges. From that beginning, it has grown to a bi-weekly program with hundreds of subscribers and over 125 episodes. The hosts, …
May 1, 2023
With the certification of 64 resource judges and four court resource attorneys’ mid-summer 2022, the National Courts and Sciences Institute (NCSI) completed Phase 1 of a SJI-supported strategic initiative to discover ways to train judges and court personnel to cope with novel, changing, Covid Science in the Courtroom. Judges from 12 jurisdictions in coordinator-facilitated teams …
April 1, 2023
During the past two years, Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. worked with the City of Memphis and Shelby County to launch the local Emergency Rental Assistance program, a $90 million program with a strong eviction prevention and legal services component. The SJI grant supported the development of court data tools to identify ERA applicants facing upcoming court …