The 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act gave states incentives to speed up the process of moving children into permanent homes. Some judges, like Judge Ernestine Gray of New Orleans, Louisiana, have improved court structures to help children and families make it through the system quickly and efficiently. Julee Newberger spoke with Judge Gray on a recent visit to Washington, DC.

How do you see the role of a judge in helping kids in the system?
We say a judge's role is to come down off the bench, get into the community and talk about the need for resources for families. We need to convene multi-disciplinary task forces of lawyers, judges, and representatives from social services and the mental health field to help with the process.

In my jurisdiction, I run for an elected position. In some jurisdictions where judges rotate roles, they see it as punishment to work on juvenile and family court. They don't understand why I'd want to be on this bench because we don't get the same amount of funding as other courts do. We know that children and families get short shrift when it comes to resources. I believe it's because children don't vote.

As a judge, dealing with children is both challenging and rewarding. Cases are not easy but when we've had success in providing placement for children, it's a win-win for everybody. Children in foster care require and need the same things that all children need—if anything they need more if it.

I see how many parents don't have the skills they need to take care of their children. They want to do right for their kids but they don't have the resources. We try to provide support and services to get families back together as soon as possible. When we keep children separated for a long time they lose attachment. Children don't want to go back. They have a disconnection from their families. In order to maintain families we need money and resources.

What is your first contact with a child entering the child welfare system?
In order for the state to intervene in a case of abuse or neglect and take custody of a child, they must call a judge. The caseworker and family appear in court within 72 hours. Children don't necessarily come to court for the initial hearing. Some caseworkers feel that emotions are so high it's probably not a good idea to bring them. As a judge I believe it's important to see the children, so I schedule a second hearing within 15 days in which they have to be present. I explain to them what's going on, see how they act in the courtroom, sometimes give them a little toy and tell them that they're going to see me again in a few months. In the past, the judge who saw the family at the 72-hour hearing wasn't the same judge who saw them at subsequent hearings. In 1999, we adopted a rule that said the same judge would see the family throughout the case.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the New Orleans court was noted as one of the most troubled in the country, but it has made a strong turn-around and is now identified as a model court? How did you help accomplish this?
The problems were that hearings were not being held in a timely manner, and there were six different judges making decisions for the same family, so the range of decisions was so wide? We created a child protection division that assigns one judge per case. We put two judges in the child protection division and the decisions were more consistent. It didn't cost more because we didn't increase our staff, we just rearranged them.

Subsequently, my court was chosen as a model by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Through the council I'm able to get a lot of technical support and insight from judges who are outstanding in the field. We got assistance from the American Bar Association in creating a cadre of lawyers who wanted to represent children. We provided training to help them feel more comfortable dealing with kids. It made such a big difference. Before that, we picked lawyers out of the phone book. With trained lawyers everything runs more smoothly.

We also created a facilitation team with judges, lawyers [and] representatives from social services and the mental health community to discuss issues that come up in court and seek solutions. In some cases they may be called multi-disciplinary task forces. Many jurisdictions find it a useful practice.

You've stated that the children you see in court have specific educational needs. Can you elaborate on this?
My position is that children in foster care are entitled to the same education that other children get. Just because they end up in foster care doesn't mean that no one has to pay attention. They're more vulnerable and need extra help. In every case, I talk to the social worker about where the children are in school, how their grades are. I follow their standardized test scores, order special tutoring for ACTs and SATs, and make sure they have a broad curriculum with classes like art and band. I talk to them about their plans for after high school. I make sure they have information about going to college.

With kids in intact homes, their families automatically think of these things. I don't see why these kids shouldn't have the same benefits as kids in intact families. And I think it should be paid for by the state. If I look at a child's grades and they are not good, then I order tutoring. I just don't accept that they can't do any better. We have to challenge children in foster care. We need to support them. If we don't, they end up homeless, in prison, unemployed. I believe a significant way to change that is through education.

Your program was noted to have significantly increased the number of children being adopted in your jurisdiction. How did you accomplish this?
We had discovered a tendency on the part of caseworkers to wait until a case was about to come up for a hearing to do any work on the case. For cases in which kids were available for adoption, we started making them come for hearings more frequently (every 30 days), and it made a big difference. A child is free to be adopted once the parents' rights have been terminated. When a family is found who wants to take the child in and raise the child as their own, a petition is filed. We also discovered that filing was being held up due to paperwork. It helped that President Clinton created incentives for increasing adoption. When the law passed in 1997, states were required to look at cases that were really old, and in some cases these children got adopted.

What court structure would most benefit children and families in the child welfare system?
I'd have what's called a unified family court that deals with all issues related to a family. It would include separations, divorces, custody issues ? all issues dealing with families would be in one place. The families we deal with are in many courts, and the court decisions are many times at odds. Ideally there would be one person who would have all the information. It would make for better rulings that affect the entire family.

We need to make sure they have a normal school life, teachers who don't penalize them because they're in foster care, and we need to make sure they're not bullied or teased and they're in a school where people challenge them to do their best and support their efforts.

Additional Resources:

• The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges is dedicated to serving the nation's children and families by improving the courts of juvenile and family jurisdictions.
• The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law works to improve children's lives through advancement in law, justice, knowledge, practice and public policy.