Unified Family Courts of North Carolina

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Anson Buncombe
Burke Caldwell
Catawba Cumberland
Durham Greene
Halifax Lenoir
Mecklenburg Montgomery
Moore New Hanover
Pender Pitt
Randolph Richmond
Stanly Union
Wake Wayne
Family Court
Counties
In February 2009, Pitt County Depart-ment
of Social Services, Family Court
and other community partners formed a
committee to work on foster parents re-cruitment
and retention especially as it
related to teenage foster children. The
committee met every other month over
the period of the next year. Several ini-tiatives
surrounding foster care and the
child welfare system in Pitt County were
implemented by the committee:
“Under Our Wings” is a community plan
for recruiting, retaining, and developing
foster and adoptive families who can
meet the needs of children in the care of
DSS. It is a community-based recruiting
approach (recruitment takes place in
neighborhoods and places of worship
where potential families live) and pro-vides
support services to families. An
advertising firm was retained to market
the recruitment of foster parents.
In another initiative, Pitt County DSS
together with community partners devel-oped
a “One Church—One Child” pro-gram.
This is a partnership designed to
make a difference in the lives of children
and families in Pitt County by (1) identi-fying
and supporting families in congre-gations
who may be interested in be-coming
adoptive or foster parents, (2)
helping to meet the needs of children in
foster care, (3) supporting parents and
families who provide foster care and (4)
enlightening churches about the needs
of foster children. A training event by
Reverend Jon Hunter from Rowan
County on this initiative was held Febru-ary
26, 2010. Several local churches
and community partners attended the
event.
Pitt County is also working with the
Casey Family Programs to develop a
“Parents as Partners” program. A
trained parent partner, who has ex-perienced
the system and been re-united
with their children, can help a
parent complete the case plan re-quirements
quicker. The parent’s at-torney
can then advocate for reunifica-tion
more effectively. Parent Partners
may accompany parents to court
hearings and agency meetings, help
them access services and encourage
them to advocate for themselves.
When parent partners are involved,
the parents get the support and knowl-edge
to navigate the system and im-prove
the chances of reunification.
The parent partners can relate to the
parents in a way that no other can by
sharing their experiences and suc-cesses.
For attorneys representing the
parents, a parent partner is a valuable
asset to the case.
Pitt County is also working with the
Casey Family Programs and Mecklen-burg
and Guilford Counties to hold a
“NC Child Welfare Convening” on
September 22, 2010 in Raleigh. The
purpose of the convening is to provide
an overview of the child welfare and
judicial reform efforts in NC with a
specific focus on the prevalence of
disproportionality in the child welfare
system and to discuss examples of
promising work efforts underway in
NC and opportunities for greater coor-dination
and collaboration of these
work efforts, as well as to illustrate the
catalytic role philanthropic institutions
can play to support these efforts.
Mona.N.Williams@nccourts.org
OUR MISSION
http://www.nccourts.org/ncfamilycourt
Unified Family Courts of North Carolina
P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E F AM I L Y C O U R T A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E
September 2010
UNDER OUR WINGS
U N I T ING T O RA I S E P I T T COUNTY F O S T E R F A M I L I E S
DI S T R I C T 3A—PI TT COUNTY
To help resolve cases involving
children and families through
combined efforts of
the family, the Court and
community services.
To approach each case in a way
that is not overly adversarial or
intrusive but always in a just,
timely and efficient manner.
To be courteous, safe and
accessible and to provide
quality service to those in need.
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Anson/Richmond/Stanly-Judicial District 20A: Through the
Access and Visitation workshop development fund, Coordina-tor
Carolyn Green, planned a “Free Friday Night Fun for Fa-thers
and their Children” event for August 27, 2010 at the
Family Life Center in Stanly County. It will feature Pastor Merv
Massey, a motivational speaker from Waxhaw, NC who is a
strong advocate of families and fatherhood.
Tennelle.W.Hann@nccourts.org
Buncombe-Judicial District 28: Buncombe County is very
pleased to be a pilot district for the “Child Safety Guide” pro-ject
which seeks to better ensure child safety in the child wel-fare
system. Family Court is working closely with DSS, DJJDP
and the GAL program, as well as the judges, to implement this
practical approach to safety decision making for children in our
Juvenile Court system. Toward the same goal, Family Court is
also collaborating with other community agencies on an
“Interagency Management Team” to work to improve safety
and timeliness of permanence for children.
Ellen.G.Rose@nccourts.org
Cumberland-Judicial District 12: Family Court conducted a
Community Education Session on Monday, July 13, 2010 at
the Cumberland County Main Library. This community educa-tion
session was a direct result of a roundtable discussion con-ducted
by the Family Court staff in March 2010. Many of the
participants were unaware of the services that are provided by
the court system. The Community Education Session was
developed to explain the resources available through Family
Court and to explain the court process. Approximately fifty
people attended the first session and we plan to host these
education classes quarterly. Mia.M.LaMotte@nccourts.org
Greene/Lenoir/Wayne-Judicial District 8: The Judges and
Family Court Staff of District 8 participated in several educa-tional
opportunities during the month of June. A training on
prescription drugs was attended by Judge Heath and Judge
Brantley, along with Family Drug Treatment Court team mem-bers
from Lenoir and Wayne Counties. Later in the month, all
Family Court Staff and Judges attended trainings with other
districts. During the last few months, domestic and juvenile
committees have met to continue the process of revising the
local rules. Laura.H.Smith@nccourts.org
Halifax-Judicial District 6A: Chief District Court and Family
Court Judge Brenda G. Branch was recognized with the Citi-zen
Lawyer Award by the North Carolina Bar Association
(NCBA) in conjunction with the Citizen Lawyer Task Force at
the NCBA Annual Meeting in Wilmington in June. The Citizen
Lawyer Award was established in 2007 and recognizes law-yers
who provide exemplary public service to their communi-ties.
Judge Branch serves as an advisor to young girls at her
church, leads the Attendance Initiative and Motivation “AIM”
Program (formerly the Truancy Diversion Project) at two
middle schools, and is working to establish a Teen Court in
District 6A. Judge Branch also sits on the board of Action for
Children and is a fellow of the Robert Wood Johnson Founda-tion
National Leadership Class (Ladder to Leadership). She
serves as a mentor to many young children in underserved
communities and volunteers her services to the NCBA as a
member of the Lawyer Effectiveness and Quality of Life Com-mittee.
The Judge also serves on Chief Justice Sarah Parker's
Commission on Professionalism. Judge Branch often states,
"Juvenile courts and domestic court involving custody cases
are the most important courts in our county because they in-volve
the lives of children." Susan.W.Horrell@nccourts.org
Montgomery/Moore/Randolph-Judicial District 19B: The
revised Domestic Rules went into effect July 6, 2010. The new
rules provide for sanctions for failure to attend mediation ap-pointments
and require all North Carolina residents to attend
orientation in their home county before a request to waive cus-tody
mediation based on distance will be considered. There is
a new Motion and Order for Continuance form which is now
required for all continuance requests. The revisions were de-veloped
during the past two years while working under the
original local rules. Nancy.M.Butler@nccourts.org
New Hanover/Pender-Judicial District 5: In May, A “Brunch
and Learn” workshop entitled “Business Valuation Reports”
was presented by Family Court and Dixon Hughes, PLLC, of
Charlotte. The presenters provided a program to assist attor-neys
in understanding the basic components and require-ments
of business reports and an understanding of the differ-ent
types of valuation approaches. In August, Family Court
presented a “Lunch and Learn” entitled “Procedures for Do-mestic
Cases” for attorneys and their staff who practice in
Pender County. Suann.N.Bechtel@nccourts.org
Union-Judicial District 20B: Union County hosted three third
year law students, one paralegal and one undergraduate stu-dent
as interns during the summer. This group of volunteers
worked diligently to review old cases. Their work resulted in
the closure of nearly fifty cases. The interns also developed a
“form bank” for district court judges and forms and procedures
for self-represented clients. Martha.S.Hall@nccourts.org
Wake-Judicial District 10: Family Court is pleased to an-nounce
the recent creation of their website at
www.nccourts.org/County/Wake/Courts/Family. This site was
designed to provide stakeholders with easy access to local
rules, forms, file it yourself packets and resource information.
Additionally, through funding received from a GCC grant, Fam-ily
Court is in the process of hiring their first ever Domestic
Violence Case Coordinator. This individual will be responsible
for managing domestic violence cases and assisting stake-holders,
especially those with crossover cases in family, civil
and criminal courts. Melissa.C.Levine@nccourts.org
Unified Family Courts of North Carolina September 2010 Page 2
FAMILY COURT NEWS
Western Region
919-890-1204
Lori.C.Cole@nccourts.org
Central Region
919-890-1203
Alisa.D.Huffman@nccourts.org
Eastern Region
919-890-1211
DeShield.Smith@nccourts.org
Copies of this public document were not printed. It is available online: http://www.nccourts.org/Citizens/CPrograms/Family/Default.asp
NCAOC Family Court Management Specialists