Young people deserve a voice regarding their placement

Judge takes teen from state's care; foster parents granted custody
Yetter, Deborah. Louisville Courier-Journal, May 11, 2009.

In an unusual rebuke to state child welfare workers, a Jefferson County family court judge has removed a teenage girl from their care and granted temporary custody to her foster parents.

Circuit Judge Stephen George last month took that step, over the objections of state workers, after the workers reneged on an agreement to let the 17-year-old remain in the Bullitt County foster home where she had been thriving, said the girl's lawyer, Christopher Harrell.

"I think it's atrocious," said Harrell, who said the state previously had agreed not to move the girl from the foster home. "

The girl is not being identified because she is a minor and has experienced abuse.

George's actions remove the state's authority over the teen.

Jim Grace, head of Kentucky's child protection services, said in an interview that he can't comment on the specifics of the case because of confidentiality laws. But he said that, in general, state social service officials try to return children to their family homes when it's in their best interest.

Yet while family court proceedings involving abused and neglected children by law are confidential, Grace acknowledged the judge's decision to transfer custody from the state to the foster parents "may be unusual." And he said state officials will investigate the matter and see if further action is warranted.

Growing outrage
The girl, Harrell and others involved in her case agreed to talk to a reporter about the case because, they said, they are outraged by how state workers handled it, starting with the decision earlier this year to try to send the teen back to the troubled home they removed her from last year.

The girl said she told her social worker she was afraid to return home and wanted to stay in her foster home, where she was happy, treated well and improving in school.

"She said that wasn't an option," the girl said in a recent interview at her lawyer's office. "It was kind of like her way or no way."

The girl contacted a reporter after reading a Courier-Journal story in January about a youth in Oldham County who said he was being forced out of foster care just a few months before his high school graduation.

She told the newspaper she was experiencing similar treatment and noted that the move would have disrupted her education. Once failing in school, she said she's now makes As and Bs, has made up a year's worth of missed school credits, has joined the ROTC, is on track to graduate on time and is considering college or the military.

And none of the problems at her family home, including fighting and physical violence, have been resolved, she said.

She said her goal was to stay in foster care through age 18, then seek independent living from the state, which would provide continued support and help pay for college. Her first social worker encouraged her to work toward that goal by making good grades and following the rules in her foster home.

But she said a different social worker assigned to her case last fall told her the state's goal was for her to return to her family home, from which she was removed in April 2008.

"I don't think that makes sense," the girl said in the interview.

Foster parents step in
Harrell, appointed as a guardian ad litem to represent the girl's interests, said the foster parents also are unhappy with the state's proposed actions. They consider the girl part of their family and have agreed to take temporary custody even though they lose foster care payments from the state.

That family has declined to comment, saying foster care officials have warned them not to speak publicly about the case because of confidentiality rules.

The girl said she believes her case is similar to that of Julian Tweedy, 18, of Oldham County, whose situation was profiled Jan. 23 in The Courier-Journal. In that case, too, the foster parents agreed to keep him at their own expense while the matter was pending.

After the newspaper report, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services reversed its decision and allowed Tweedy to remain in foster care.

Case spurs criticism
Children's advocates harshly criticized the state for its actions in that case, and advocates for the girl say some of the state's actions in her case defy explanation.

"They're supposed to be there to help and protect kids," said Lisa Butler, a child advocate with the Jefferson County juvenile public defender's office who is assisting in the girl's case. "The whole thing is so broken."

The girl said she was frustrated by her state social worker, who she said refused to listen to her and threatened her and her foster parents with contempt of court if they didn't follow her directions. (Only judges can hold people in contempt of court, Grace said.)

The girl said when she objected to returning home, the worker said, "Life's not fair," the same thing Tweedy said his worker told him. Records provided by their lawyers, show both teens had the same social worker, Jacki Schultz, and the same social service supervisor, Billy Jenkins, managing their cases.

Neither Jenkins nor Schultz could be reached for comment and Grace, their supervisor, said they would not be available for an interview because of state confidentiality rules.

Tweedy and the girl, in separate interviews, each said they tried to tell Schultz they encountered fighting and violence on their occasional visits to their family homes.

Tweedy said Schultz told him that because he had turned 18, he was an adult and should handle it. The girl said Schultz told her she needed to try harder to get along with her family.

The most recent meeting over the girl's fate devolved into a shouting match between Harrell and Jenkins, said Harrell, who attended the April 8 session along with his client, Schultz, Jenkins, Butler, the foster parents and the girl's parents.

At one point case, Jenkins became so upset the girl offered him her "squeeze bunny," a spongy toy a therapist gave her to squeeze when she found herself getting tense, she said, a detail confirmed by Harrell and Butler.

"I said, here, I think you need this," she said.

Told of that allegation, Grace said that while he couldn't speak about this case, "we would never want that to happen."

Girl's future
Despite the rancor, the parties eventually agreed the girl could remain in the Bullitt County foster home and finish school, Harrell said.

But when the parties got to court April 15, he said, Jenkins and Schultz announced they had changed their minds and the girl was to be transferred to a new foster home in Jefferson County, which would have forced her to change schools near the end of her junior year.

It was then that the judge ordered the girl removed from the state's custody, finding the state hadn't made reasonable efforts to ensure an appropriate outcome.

Harrell said it's a good temporary solution but doesn't resolve all the issues. For example, if the girl isn't in foster care through her 18th birthday, she can't get free tuition at a state university and she can't qualify for independent living assistance beyond age 18.

Although the judge ordered the girls' parents to pay child support to the foster parents, it's only about half the financial support the state pays for foster care. And the state immediately cut off the girl's Medicaid coverage, leaving the foster parents scrambling to find health insurance for her.

Fostering Goodwill makes Christmas Wishes come true for foster care alumni on the holidays

People who age out of foster care often need help
Davis, Merlene. Lexington Herald-Leader, Dec . 2, 2008.

Earl Washington knows what it is like to be 18 and itching to be free of the constraints of the foster care system he called home for 10 years.

Jeff Culver knows what it is like to help young people like Washington who age out of foster care but who have very little support to help them succeed in life.

Jeff Culver and Earl Washington work in the office of Fostering Goodwill, the non-profit they founded in 2006. They focus on young men and women who are legally adults and have aged out.

With experiences on both sides of the foster care fence, the two men focus their areas of expertise toward helping young people who are legally adults but who might not have the skills to maneuver in the adult world.

"We always talked about starting something for older foster youth," Washington said, "those who are about to age out and up to 23 or 24. People just want to get rid of them."

The numbers bear that out
The results of a 2007 study by the Pew Charitable Trust showed that annually 20,000 kids age out of foster care nationwide, an increase of 41 percent since 1998. One third of them didn't have a high school diploma and about 20 percent become homeless. Nearly half of the young women who have been in foster care become pregnant at least once by age 19.

Washington, director of the child placing services at the Methodist Home Independent Living Program, said he grew up in foster care in Lexington, spending a brief time in the juvenile justice system as well.

"I left my home when I was about 9 years old," he said. "I returned home for two to four months at a time. Nothing consistent."

At 18, he turned his attention to Eastern Kentucky University, where he wanted to study social work and give back to the community.

"I didn't have any expectations of being successful at that. I didn't go to public school until the last semester of my senior year. I attended classes at the Metro Group Home.

"I wanted my freedom and I wanted to be completely free of everybody," he said. "What we want may not be what we need. It is definitely not what may be best for you."

Upon reaching 18, those leaving state care have the option of staying with state supervision through independent living programs, which find them apartments and money to attend a public college or university or trade school.

"There are great programs, but they still have some gaps," Washington said. "We are working to improve those programs."

But, even if the youths leave the system, they can still return when times get tough and they discover that life as an adult can be difficult.

"They just need a mentor because they have no one," said Culver, who works with the state's social and juvenile services. "Some go back to families, where there may not be a meaningful relationship. Many go from place to place. But if they keep in touch with us, we will help them."

Emotions can run particularly low this time of year when the themes of love, family and home are stressed.

To help lift their spirits, Washington and Culver have devised a program called Christmas Wishes.

They ask for monetary donations or gift cards, which will then be distributed to youths who aren't quite the people we think of at Christmastime.

Along with the gift cards, a survey is mailed to the youths who are still in touch with independent living programs, asking what more can be done to bridge their entry into adulthood. Culver said they will use the responses to make improvements.

"People want to be Santa to 5-year-olds, but teenagers need something, too," said Susan Otero, owner of Rooster and Rose Home Boutique in Nicholasville's Brannon Crossing Shopping Center. "I think they are kind of forgotten with everything. They need just as much attention as the little ones."

Otero, who has spearheaded fund drives for foster children 10 years and older, started collecting luggage for children in state care when her son was a Cub Scout.

Before 9/11, Otero invited friends over for a fancy open house at Christmastime. Now she gives them a snack and asks them to donate gift cards to the youth.

"We target the older kids," she said. "We target the most needy, the ones whose parents have signed off on them or are incarcerated, or have drug issues, or health issues.

"These kids will be coming into the community soon and I would rather they have a good experience."

You can help by sending either a check or a gift card from a major retailer to Fostering Goodwill, P.O. Box 54561, Lexington, Ky., 40555.

They can also be reached by phone at (859) 509-4307 or (502) 741-9527.

Or you can drop off money or gift cards at Rooster and Rose Home Boutique. For every $5 donated at the shop, Otero said, donors are given a raffle ticket for a chance at a beautiful gift basket.

Plus, she said, she'll gladly give your gently used luggage to the foster children so that they won't have to move their possessions from place to place in a plastic garbage bag.

The gift cards can be loaded with any amount, but keep in mind how much a sweater or shoes costs these days. Monetary donations will be bundled to give larger gift cards to the young people who have children.

"They have to grow up fast when they age out of the system," Washington said. "It was just me when I went to college. I didn't have anyone to put money on my meal card.

"Speaking as a service provider, we don't prepare these kids well and then we expect them to succeed," he continued. "They have all the tools. We just need to help them get to that point."

Foster Children and Medical Care

Clinic for kids in foster care celebrated Musgrave, Beth. Lexington Herald-Leader, Dec. 6, 2008.

Janice Hukle expected a hassle when she took one of her foster children to a new clinic on Waller Avenue.

The Jessamine County woman has been a foster parent to more than 100 kids over the past 30 years. And most of those kids needed special medical treatment.

Hukle was used to bullying and cajoling the medical system to get her kids the best services possible. But the doctors at the Medical Home for Coordinated Pediatrics spent a long time talking to Hukle about the needs of her foster daughter.

"They did everything for you," Hukle said of the staff at the clinic.

"There was no rush," she said. "I mean, that's just unheard of."

On Friday, the Medical Home for Coordinated Pediatrics — a clinic solely for the 7,100 Kentucky kids in foster care and the 9,000 kids who have been removed from their parents and are being taken care of by a family member — celebrated its 500th patient visit.

The clinic, a partnership between the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the University of Kentucky Department of Pediatrics, serves 20 counties and opened in the fall of 2007. It is the first clinic of its kind in Kentucky and one of the few clinics in the country dedicated solely to treating kids in the foster care system.

Approximately 80 percent of children in foster care have special medical needs, but getting medical care for them is often difficult.

Nearly all children in the foster care system are eligible for Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor or disabled. But it's difficult to find doctors who consistently take Medicaid, said Eric Friedlander of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

The other problem, Hukle said, is that sometimes kids enter the foster care system with health problems that have been undiagnosed. Or they are in the foster care system because their parents didn't get them medical treatment.

"You have to go off of whatever information has been gathered," Hukle said. And sometimes that information is dismal at best.

This clinic allows for a continuity of care, said Teresa James, the deputy commissioner for the Department for Community Based Services, which oversees foster care. Children in the foster care system who are returned to their parents can still come to the clinic, James said.

Moreover, information about each child will be entered into a database, which social workers can access if the child re-enters the foster care system, James said.

First lady Jane Beshear, at a ceremony Friday to commemorate the 500th visit, said that in tough economic times, the state needs more innovative partnerships like this one.

"If you think differently, then many things can be accomplished," Beshear said.

UK provides most of the medical staff. The Commission for Children With Special Health Care Needs, which is part of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, provides the space. Medicaid pays for most of the care.

Friedlander said the state contributed $100,000 to the clinic's operations budget, and much of that money will be repaid by Medicaid.

Clinic dedicated to caring for the health of children in foster care

First Lady Celebrates Work of Children's Clinic
University of Kentucky News, Dec. 9, 2008.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 9, 2008) – Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear marked a milestone Dec. 5 at a University of Kentucky clinic, the first of its kind in the state dedicated to caring for the health of children in foster care.

The Medical Home for Coordinated Pediatrics (MHCP),a joint venture of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ (CHFS) Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CCSHCN), the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics and CHFS’ Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), celebrated its 500th patient visit in less than one year of operation.

Beshear toured the center, met its staff and spoke about the benefits of the program. “Children’s health care is a priority of my husband, Gov. Steve Beshear,” said Beshear. “In these tight economic times we must use our existing resources to best serve the children of the Commonwealth – including those who are in state foster care. When a partnership like this results in so many benefits, it’s a win for all of Kentucky.”

The clinic is a one-stop medical center that provides comprehensive, compassionate, coordinated pediatric primary care for children in out-of-home care. The center, located in the CCSHCN’s Waller Avenue office, serves children in out-of-home care from Fayette and 19 surrounding counties. Medical information for children who visit the center is entered into CCSHCN’s database, which can be accessed by its staff statewide and follows the children no matter where they go, improving the consistency of care they receive.

CCSHCN Executive Director Rebecca Cecil said that clinic staff address each child’s needs, make appropriate referrals and coordinate follow-up care. “This clinic, coupled with the nine commission nurses stationed in DCBS offices across the state, provides a level of medical expertise that has been desperately needed,” she said.

DCBS Deputy Commissioner Teresa James said this continuity gives the children a medical home. “We strive to reduce the number of placements for our children in foster care,” James said, “but there are often situations when a child must be moved to another home or facility.”

The clinic also provides support for families in the Kinship Care Program, which places children with relatives rather than in a foster home, James said.

“The importance of this program to the health and lives of these Kentucky children is profound,” said Dr. Timothy Bricker, professor and chair, Department of Pediatrics, UK College of Medicine, and physician-in-chief of Kentucky Children’s Hospital. “The foster caregivers and the staff of this program are our heroes.”

Because the program is able to use existing commission clinic space and share some staff, the additional costs of running the clinic are less than $100,000. The clinic is located in available space within the commission’s office and Medicaid pays for the services provided to the foster children.

Approximately 7,100 Kentucky children are in state foster care. DCBS is responsible for coordinating an initial physical health screening within 48 hours of the child’s entry into out-of-home care. DCBS also must ensure that each child has a physical, dental and visual exam scheduled within two weeks of entry into care. About 122 children in foster care are considered medically fragile with specialized health care needs.

Concern about racial bias in Kentucky foster care system

Former state employee speaks out against foster care
WBKO, Mar 16, 2008.

Bowling Green, KY - A former state employee says Kentucky officials are backing off an initiative to try to prevent racial bias in the foster care system.

Last year, Delanor Manson was asked to lead the effort to educate social workers, school officials and others about bias.

That came after the Cabinet for Health and Family Services admitted that the number of African Americans under the state's care was disproportionate to their numbers in the population.

Manson was fired in January by Governor Steve Beshear's administration, and now says the state is backing off the initiative.

However, officials with the Cabinet say they have put about $260,000 in state funding behind the effort.

Clermont County needs more foster parents

County in need for foster care homes, families
Coomer, Regan. Florence Community Press.

With about 350 children in foster care and 80 to 90 foster homes in Clermont County operating at any given time, the Department of Job & Family Services is forced to send half of these children out of the county to homes in networks that are owned by businesses that provide foster care services.

Going into foster care is traumatic for a child no matter what, said Tim McCartney, director of Job & Family Services, but add moving out of the county to that, removing the child from the extended family, schoolmates and friends, and the child undergoes even more strain.

"But, we have to do it to make sure children have a safe environment to be in," McCartney said.

Erica Boller, a foster care supervisor in Clermont County, said "50 percent of our children leave the county and that's awful. They have to totally leave what's familiar to them. Our children should be taken care of by our community."

McCartney agrees displaced children should stay in the county.

"We believe these are Clermont County's kids and we want to make sure our community is taking care of the kids," he said.

One Clermont County woman who cares for foster children is Denise Strimple of Tate Township. Strimple and her husband have been foster parents since 1988.

"It's worth the risk," Strimple said. "The thing that most people say, 'I don't know if I can give them back,' It really is worth the risk to ourselves to know you're making life better for a child who doesn't have a choice or voice most of the time."

The Strimples have opened their home primarily to children with disabilities or medical issues.

"We spend most of our time with these children helping them overcome that and doing different therapies and appointments at Children's and things to help maximize their potential while they're with us," she said. "It's very rewarding to see them not being able to do things they should be doing at what age level they are to coming back to a typical area of where they belong."

Strimple said she and her husband generally care for one child at a time over a six-month period to give the child the advantage of their sole attention and care.

"It's always a heartbreak to say goodbye," Strimple said, "but it's certainly worth the investment."

Besides the negative effects of removing the children from everything they know, sending children out of the county also makes it harder for families to reunite after the parents have resolved the issues that caused the county to remove the kids, McCartney said.

"It's more difficult to reunify because of the distance. It's also frankly just more costly. We incur travel expenses for our staff, and networks, they're businesses, so it costs us more to pay a network to provide care for a child than it does for Clermont County foster parents," McCartney said.

Though there is a need for more foster homes in general, Boller said, "Our real need is for families that can take care of older children, school-age children and sibling groups."

Some county families are reluctant to provide care to older children because they either may be hoping to adopt, in which case the family would prefer an infant, or because they're not certain of what types of concerns or behaviors those children may bring into the home, Boller said.

However, the county provides mentors and training for families who open their homes to older children, Boller said.

"They report to us they feel the rewards tenfold from those children."

Boller said she'd like to see an additional 60 homes open up in Clermont County; if there were that many, children wouldn't have to be sent out of the county.

"We're really looking for people to help give a child a brighter tomorrow and please look into your hearts and give us a call. We are here and we want them to be there for our children," she said.

McCartney agreed that the county needs people who will provide good homes for displaced children.

"Simple fact of the matter is, in a growing count like us, we have 350 kids in care, five years ago we had a little less than two hundred, the number of kids that we have to care for has grown as the county has grown."

If you're interested in becoming a foster parent, call 732-STOP (7173) or visit clermontforkids.org. The county also is holding open houses in coming months at local libraries to provide information to people wanting to become foster parents. The next open house is at 7 p.m. March 20 at the Union Township Branch Library.

African American children overrepresented in Kentucky foster care

Foster care bias program shuffled
Honeycutt Spears, Valarie. Kentucky.com

A former state employee said Cabinet officials are abandoning an initiative to educate those in the foster care system about racial bias.

Last year, after the Cabinet for Health and Family Services admitted that the number of blacks under the state's care were disproportionate to their number in the population, they asked Delanor Manson to lead their efforts.

Manson said that she was fired in January by Gov. Steve Beshear's administration. The Rev. Louis Coleman of Louisville, a civil rights activist, filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department, saying that the Cabinet is discriminating against the state's most vulnerable black families.

But Cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin said that the initiative to educate social workers, school officials and others about bias continues through community meetings and workshops and that the Cabinet continues to support the program with state funding Ð about $260,000 in fiscal 2008.

Workshops have not been scheduled beyond June 30 because state agencies don't know how much money they'll receive in the budget, she said.

The Cabinet found in a study last year that in 11 counties, black children are represented in foster care at more than 1.5 times their percentage of the population. Fayette County is one of the worst examples, with black children in foster care at 3.4 times their proportion of the population. Black children represent 13.5 percent of the population in Fayette County, while they constitute 45.7 percent of the children in foster care. A bill filed by State Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, that proposes to open a Cabinet office to deal with the disparity in treatment for children of color, was passed by the House Health and Welfare Committee Thursday.

Manson said the Cabinet is opposing the bill.

However, Franklin said Cabinet officials are continuing to review the legislation.

Manson was executive director of the Cabinet's office for quality management. No one has since been hired to take over the workshops she led that educate workers in the system about racial bias, she said. Manson said she has continued to conduct the workshops called Race, Community and the Child Welfare System in areas with the biggest problems.

"I am continuing to do presentations, coordinate workshops and meetings as a private citizen without any reimbursement for travel, expenses or salary because it is essential that we keep the communities engaged," Manson said. "I don't want the momentum to go away."

Franklin said Manson is continuing the work on her own and "not at the invitation of the Cabinet."

As the state takes measures to further fund its own workshops, Manson said black children and their families are not being treated fairly.

"Failure to continue the work sends a signal that disparate outcomes for children of color is OK," she said.

BY THE NUMBERS
Kentucky counties with the highest percentage of black children in foster care:

Jefferson 592
Fayette 308
Christian 23
Graves 29
McCracken 46
Warren 82
Hardin 52
Boyle 17
Kenton 67
Daviess 32
Madison 15

Source: Cabinet for Health and Family Services

What about the PEW recommendations and advocating for the voice of the child?

Bill would alter foster care process
Aims to protect parental rights.
Honeycutt Spears, Valarie. Feb. 23, 2008.

FRANKFORT --In Jefferson County, attorneys volunteer to help indigent families at a crucial first hearing to determine whether a child must live in foster care or can stay with an appropriate family member.

Parents in the rest of the state aren't as lucky -- indigent parents go to court without a lawyer initially.

Jefferson Family Court Judge Patricia Walker Fitzgerald takes it on herself to make sure that all families are educated about complex and confusing court procedures. She tells them in clear terms that if their child has been removed by a social worker, the child could be headed for a state adoption. As a result, according to Fitzgerald, "more children are able to stay with their families."

Elsewhere in Kentucky, many parents don't realize that they can lose their child forever until it's too late.

State Rep. Darryl Owens' House Bill 151 would require that the entire state embrace the policies Jefferson County officials voluntarily carry out.

"What we have now is not a system, it's just luck," said Robin Cornette, a Lexington lawyer who often works as a court-appointed attorney. "If we are serious about holding social workers accountable for their work, about ensuring that parents' rights to their children are not unjustly terminated, then we have to create a real system, one which does not rely solely on the luck of finding free or underpaid lawyers."

House Bill 151 requires attorneys to be appointed before the first hearing in child protection cases, called the temporary removal hearing. It directs judges to tell families in writing and orally that they stand to lose their children permanently. The bill was drafted by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' Blue Ribbon Task Force on Adoption after 16 months of hearings.

John Hamlet, a court-appointed attorney in Jefferson County, said the bill "provides some protection for the most vulnerable families."

House Bill 151 would give court-appointed attorneys in child protection courts the first raises they've had since the 1980s. Now, court-appointed attorneys in child protection cases are paid a maximum of $500, and in some jurisdictions, only $250 -- no matter how long the case goes on, how complicated the case is, or how many hours are required. The bill would raise that amount to $1,000.

It would require that an attorney be appointed for indigent parents who want to appeal the termination of their parental rights.

State Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said she will call the bill for a vote next week in the House Judiciary Committee, which she chairs. She will also call House Bill 421, promoted by Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert, which would make child protection hearings open in selected courts across Kentucky in a four-year pilot program. Child protection courts in most states are open to some degree.

Rep. Susan Westrom, a Lexington Democrat who introduced House Bill 421 and is a co-sponsor of House Bill 151, thinks Senate leaders will realize the importance of the reform legislation.

After multiple hearings and investigations into allegations that children were being improperly removed from their families, Westrom said she believes people expect results.

"We've got to prove that we listened, so that no family or child will be abused by the system," she said.

But Stein's counterpart in the Senate, Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, isn't making any promises. Stivers, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he has had only a brief conversation with Lambert's aides about the open court bill and hadn't read it or other legislation concerning child protection courts because the bills aren't yet moving in the House.

"It would be premature for me to comment on the chances for passage," Stivers said this week.

With the state's budget constraints, David Richart of the Louisville-based Institute on Children, Youth and Families thinks the likelihood that lawmakers will increase fees for court-appointed attorneys "is not great." But he said lawmakers could save the parts of the bill that give families an attorney earlier in the process, that supervise court-appointed attorneys and that educate families to the fact that the state could arrange an adoption for their children.

"Even if the fee increase is cut," Richart said, "there are still some substantial things we can do to improve child protection court procedures."

Meanwhile, Leigh Anne Hiatt, a spokeswoman for Lambert, says that he will soon be meeting with Stivers.

"We are continuing to educate legislators about the purpose of the bill and how it will be implemented," Hiatt said.