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Barton Child Law and Policy Center Newsletter |
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Next Hearing Scheduled on the Child Protection and Public Safety Act
The Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its discussion of the Child Protection and Public Safety Act ("the Act") in a hearing scheduled for December 7 that will focus on the juvenile justice provisions of the Act. The Act, which was initially introduced in 2009 as SB 292, would completely revise the Georgia Code's juvenile court provisions, which govern how our state responds to children and their families in cases of abuse, neglect, violations of criminal law by children, and other circumstances requiring court intervention. The Act aims to reorganize the O.C.G.A. Title 15, Chapter 11 for ease of understanding and application, to modernize substantive provisions to reflect advances in research and practice, and to bring Georgia into full compliance with federal laws applicable to juvenile court proceedings. The Act's lead sponsor is Senator Bill Hamrick (R-Carrolton). Although the Act did not pass in the 2010 legislative session, efforts to move the Act toward passage next session continue through an ongoing series of legislative hearings. The newly scheduled hearing will continue the Committee's review of Article 7, which governs delinquency cases. The hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 7th from 2-4pm in room 450 of the Capitol. 
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Please Participate in our Listserv Survey
We need your help! Each year, the Barton Center hosts a Masters of Social Work Student from Georgia State in our Public Policy and Legislative Clinics. One of the requirements that our MSW students must fulfill is a program evaluation of one of the Barton Center's initiatives. Because we have just changed to a new listserv format, we decided that this would also be a good time to see if there were any other changes you would like to see to our listserv, and our current MSW student, David Bolt, agreed to make this service the program he evaluates. He has designed a survey, which you can access by clicking here. In order for him to receive credit for the evaluation, he needs a good sample of responses. Please take a moment to go to this link and share your thoughts with us and help him reach the necessary threshold.
Notice of Informed Consent
This survey is being administered in an attempt to gather useful information to improve the listserv for the Barton Child Law and Policy Center. There will be no attempt at collecting identifying information of participants of the survey. Data will only be presented in an aggregate form with no individual identifiers for participants. Any personally identifying information incidentally collected will be confidential and will not be released in any format. This survey is being conducted by David Bolt, a Master of Social Work student at Georgia State University. If you have any questions regarding the survey or its uses, please do not hesitate to contact at dbolt1@student.gsu.edu.
The survey completion time is expected to be approximately ten minutes.
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Reminder: Parent Survey on Effective School Discipline Project
To Parents of Students in Georgia's K-12 public school system: Our JUSTGeorgia Partner, the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, is engaged in an evaluation of student discipline policies, practices and outcomes in Georgia's public schools. A critical issue is whether our schools are effectively balancing the need for all students to have a safe and effective learning environment with the right of every individual student (even one who may have periodic disciplinary issues) to have a reasonable chance to earn a quality high school education. In June of this year, Georgia Appleseed issued "Effective Student Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class," a preliminary report of its findings.
As part of Phase II of this study effort, Georgia Appleseed is now collaborating with several school districts around Georgia to interview dozens of principals and teachers to hear their views on student discipline practices. Georgia Appleseed also wants to obtain the views of on this important issue. Therefore, Georgia Appleseed has worked in close cooperation with the Georgia PTA to create a survey designed to obtain your input.
The Barton Center has agreed to support Georgia Appleseed's effort to obtain the views of parents and students from around the state on this important issue. If you are a parent or guardian of a child in grades K-12 in the Georgia public school system, please take a few minutes to respond to the on-line survey which can be reached by clicking on the link provided below. If your child is in the 8th grade or higher, please have her/him also access and fill out the survey using the same link. (Of course, if you receive the survey from multiple sources, you and your child(ren) should only respond one time.)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/discipline7
Please submit the survey as soon as possible but no later than November 17, 2010.
Thank you for participating in this important effort to evaluate Georgia's school discipline practices and assure that such practices are designed to result in the best educational outcomes for all of Georgia's kids.
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Georgia Child Welfare Legal Academy, December 9, 2010
Our next Georgia Child Welfare Legal Academy is scheduled for Thursday December 9, 2010 from 1:10 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. in room 575 of Gambrell Hall at Emory University School of Law. Visiting Scholar in Dr. Brent Wilson, Clinical Assistant Professor at Emory School of Medicine, will discuss A Trauma Informed Approach to Children in State Custody. Children in state custody often display concerning behaviors, sometimes intolerable behaviors. Some of these children do not trust relationships, have over-activated nervous systems and have not learned emotion-regulation skills. Many have experienced trauma or toxic levels of stress during their short lives. In this program, we will hear from an empowerment advocate about his experience in state custody and the advocate's counselor as well as Dr. Wilson, who works with this population of children. Risks for medication will be discussed as as well approaches to helping these children manage their emotions better. Come learn how to be advocate for the children you serve and bring your questions. The speakers anticipate an interactive session with the audience.
Seating is limited. Advanced registration is strongly encouraged. The registration fee for all participants is $10 and includes materials, parking in the hospital visitor parking deck, and light refreshments.
Register online at www.regonline.com/trauma_informed_approach. For registration information, contact Sherry McPeeks at 404.712.4643 or smcpeek@emory.edu.
CLE credit: 2.0 regular CLE credits will be offered for this program pending approval from the State Bar of Georgia for an additionalfee of $10.00 payable by cash or check at the door.Please make checks payable to Emory University.
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Quick Links...
Donate. Your contribution directly supports the work of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center to improve the lives of abused, neglected and court-involved children. In the "select fund" drop down box, please choose "Robin Nash Fellowship" to help us launch the careers of talented new child advocates or choose "other" and write "Barton Center operations" to support all other aspects of our work. Thank you for your generous support; our work would not be possible without community contributions. Join the Barton Center email list. The Barton Child Law and Policy Center sends weekly legislative updates when the Georgia General Assembly is in session. During the rest of the year we send periodic emails with information on upcoming educational opportunities, legislative and policy developments, research findings, and changes to law, policy and practice. Sign up here to receive important updates on children's law in Georgia.
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