Standardized Child Welfare Forms

Nevada's Court Improvement Program ("CIP") supports children's right to protection from abuse and neglect.  It promotes best practices that advance meaningful and ongoing collaboration among courts, child welfare agencies, and other stakeholders to achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families in the child welfare system in a fair, efficient, just and timely manner.  As part of the CIP's activities toward improving the outcome of Nevada's children in abuse and neglect cases, it developed a set of standardized forms.

The forms are designed to increase compliance with federal law and regulations, and make practice in abuse and neglect cases consistent across Nevada.  The specific language in the forms provides a base for a more detailed order, while maintaining compliance with the Agency Plan for the Title IV-E of the Social Security Act Foster Care and Adoption Assistance for the State of Nevada and following written guidance provided by the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Administration for Children & Families.

These forms are also intended to provide consistency and understanding to all parties to improve compliance with those orders.  The forms will promote the practice of providing parties with comprehensive orders following each hearing, to improve the quality of proceedings and help families navigate the dependency court process.

The language in these forms is not intended to replace or override Nevada or Federal law.  These forms are designed to be customizable. The Nevada dependency courts serve a wide variety of families facing numerous challenges; these families come from communities both large and small, and the resources available in these diverse communities are as varied as those families.  Courts may add language to reflect local practice rules and customs, to meet the needs of particular parents and children, and to utilize the best practices of child welfare as supported by available resources in each jurisdiction.

The safety and welfare of Nevada's children will continue to be a central focus of CIP into the future.  CIP intends to revise these forms on a regular basis to accommodate changes in Nevada and Federal law.

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