The Evaluability Assessment (EA) of the Court Improvement Program (CIP) developed the following classification system. While federal CIP funds have supported a wide range of reform efforts, some reforms are more amenable to rigorous evaluation than others. Focusing on those reforms that were most amenable to an evaluation, the EA identified a total of 43 separate reforms in 30 states. Of these, 13 interventions were chosen for on-site assessment of their evaliability.
Alternative dispute resolution programs: Mediation projects, family group conferencing/decision making models, pre-hearing conferences and other "non-adversarial" approaches conducted externally to court hearings.
9
Training and educational materials: Activities with well-defined curricula and/or resource materials on a variety of topics, including services assessment, roles and responsibilities of court participants, and relevant state and federal laws.
5
Child and parent legal representation:
Professional standards/qualifications and related training and certification programs.
6
Legal representation services, including Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs.
7
Case tracking and management: Comprehensive systems to improve tracking and information availability to expedite case activity.
3
Consistency and quality of hearings:
Specifying timeframes between hearings.
3
Developing specialized models for judicial review of dependency cases (e.g., specialized dockets or courts).
2
Standardizing the content of court hearings (e.g., orders/checklists).
1
Defining processes for third party review of proceedings.
1
Parent education and support: Outreach efforts to educate parents about the dependency court process and their rights and responsibilities in the judicial system, and offer counseling on options and support.
1
Systemic reform: Multiple and interrelated reform efforts aimed at improving the infrastructure of the court and its daily operations.
5
*James Bell Associates, Inc., Feasibility of Evaluating the State Court Improvement Program, September 12, 2003, p. 13.
