Court Improvement Program Overview
Mission Statement
The Nevada Court Improvement Program (CIP) is committed to advancing family preservation and protecting children from abuse and neglect by promoting equitable court practices and addressing systemic barriers. The program is committed to continuous quality improvement to elevate and sustain best practices across the judicial, legal, and child welfare sectors. Through collaboration with key multidisciplinary stakeholders, the CIP aims to achieve safe, just, and timely welfare outcomes for Nevada’s communities.
Origins of the Court Improvement Program
Pursuant to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA), the United States Congress appropriated funds to the states as part of a federal initiative to support reform in the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. The CIP was enacted because courts had been under intensive pressure to implement a myriad of federal and state laws which imposed new duties on the courts, greatly increasing the complexity of cases.
The Federal CIP grants have been channeled to the highest state courts to facilitate collaboration among the key stakeholders to identify and address barriers to achieve safety, permanency, and child and family well-being within the judicial, legal, and child welfare systems in a fair and timely manner.
The CIP has existed in Nevada since 1995. It is overseen by the multi-disciplinary CIP Select Committee (Committee), chaired by Supreme Court of Nevada Justice Elissa Cadish. This group is comprised of family court judges, a tribal representative, the three child welfare agency administrators and representatives, a deputy state attorney general, district attorneys, a public defender, legislators, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, several attorneys who actively represent neglected and abused children, and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) programs. As an ad hoc committee of the Judicial Council of the State of Nevada, the Committee serves in an advisory capacity to the Supreme Court.
Funding from the CIP grant target specific outcomes as outlined in the current CIP Strategic Plan. All data updated as of 2023. For further self-assessment details, please contact cip@nvcourts.nv.gov.
About the Court Improvement Program
The CIP helps courts and agencies develop systemic, statewide reforms to improve child welfare case handling and ensure compliance with state and federal child dependency laws. The CIP manages the application for and distribution of federal grant funds, sets program and funding standards, and establishes policies and procedures to enhance court processes for children and families involved in abuse, neglect, and dependency proceedings.
The Supreme Court, through CIP, applies for and receives grant funds from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The CIP Select Committee appoints a Grants Award Subcommittee, which strictly follows federal grant requirements and Nevada’s approved CIP Strategic Plan when reviewing and recommending sub-grant proposals. Sub-grants support projects aligned with Nevada’s strategic goals, which require that funded activities be evidence-based, policy-driven, data-informed, and incorporate continual quality improvement.
Nevada Court Improvement Efforts Focus On:
- Improving court handling of foster care cases
- Emphasizing and supporting children's rights to protection from abuse and neglect
- Avoiding unnecessary separation of children from their families
- Furthering timely permanency for children who have come into the court's jurisdiction due to abuse or neglect
- Seeking to protect the due process rights of all parties; the families' as well the children's
- Cultivating judicial leadership to ensure that courts provide efficient and timely justice to children and families
- Prioritizing and advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities
- Collaborative problem-solving through multidisciplinary teamwork
Nevada Uses Its Court Improvement Program Funds To:
- Pilot such best practices as statewide juvenile dependency mediation, thereby improving the dependency court processes
- Educate the judiciary, legal and child welfare communities, and other stakeholders by hosting annual conferences and on-line training
- Advance meaningful and ongoing collaboration within and among the courts and agencies serving neglected and abused children
- Develop data exchanges with dashboard capabilities to ensure appropriate and timely hearing notification, and improve timely permanent and safe placement of children
- Encourage local input and comprehensive systemic reform through the Community Improvement Councils (CICs)
- Validate and improve practice through research
- Standardize dependency court orders across the state via the Court Order Template Project to ensure orders contain required federal language
- Funding for critical dependency services and timely access to permanency
Impact of Court Improvement Funds in Nevada:
- 100% of state judicial districts have active Community Improvement Councils (CICs) created at the request and with the support of CIP to systemically improve court processing of abuse and neglect cases by implementing evidence-based, best practices, and continually assessing and improving their execution
- 100% of CICs participate in the annual CIC Summits and develop annual data-driven action plans to improve the processing of child neglect and abuse cases
- 85% of 1st permanency hearings took place within 12 months compared to 67% in 2012
- 40% of children in care have been placed with relatives or fictive kin compared to 27% in 2016
- 42.1% of children are discharged to permanency within 12 months of entering care compared to the national average of 35.2%
CIP attorneys and stakeholder dependency training launched in 2017.
CASA programs in 7 judicial districts started with CIP assistance and Guardian ad Litem programs in 2 districts.
CIP collaboration advanced the Governor's Coalition to Prevent Commercial Exploitation of Children.
Data sharing among the courts, child welfare agencies, school districts, and juvenile justice initiated to ensure that children are in safe, loving, permanent homes and avoid unnecessary removals.
For more information, please contact the Court Improvement Program at CIP@nvcourts.nv.gov.