Juvenile Policy Board ND Supreme Court Front Conference Room Bismarck, ND April 23, 2010 8:30 a.m.
Members Present Judge William Herauf, Chair Justice Mary Muehlen Maring Judge Doug Mattson via phone Judge David Reich Karen Kringlie, Juvenile Court Director
Members Absent Judge Daniel Narum Dale Thompson, Referee
Staff Present Louie Hentzen, Asst. State Court Administrator Lana Zimmerman, scribe
Judge Herauf called the meeting to order. A motion was made by Judge Mattson to approve
the October 23, 2009, minutes. The motion was seconded by Karen Kringlie, motion
carried.
Rules of Juvenile Procedure Louie Hentzen distributed the Rules of Juvenile Procedure and they have been approved and
published in the rule book. There are some modifications in behaviors around the state as a
result of these rules. The State's Attorney has been meeting with the juvenile court office's and
has changed practices about discovery.
Karen Kringlie shared the new section which allows parents who don't appear at court hearings
to have the judge issue an arrest warrant, which has been utilized twice in Cass County.
Status of Juvenile Related Projects
1. Data Collection and Analysis - Louie Hentzen reported Kate Harrison Consulting
Group is completing the project to develop performance measures. Kate Harrison will
present the findings in June at the Court Improvement Project Committee meeting. Some
problems included collecting data from CMS and UCIS, which revealed coding errors.
DHS and the Judiciary are in the process of changing information systems. The Juvenile
Director's have helped Kate Harrison compile data to achieve their final project.
The next phase of the Data Collection and Analysis Grant money from Court
Improvement will be proposed to the Administrative Council on May 14, 2010. The
proposed grant money will be used to hire a temporary research analyst to write
programs, receive data out of DHS and the Judiciary information systems, and analyze it
in relationship to the performance measures.
2. Juvenile Staffing Study - The Juvenile Staffing Study is in the second four week time
gathering phase. All juvenile officers and secretaries are reporting what their job duties
are in relation to the time study. This is a requirement of the National Center for State
Courts. When completed, the weighted caseload will determine where staffing is relative
to the amount of workload. Findings of the study will be reported to the Advisory
Committee on June 8, 2010.
3. RFP for GAL Program - The RFP for Guardian Ad Litem services has been
distributed to several agencies. Four vendors have responded. Youthworks was selected
and is in the contract phase. Youthworks will take over the administration of the GAL
project starting July 1, 2010. Current UND employees will join Youthworks, which will
eliminate any transition problems. The office is located in Fargo, ND. Current GAL's
will become employees of Youthworks who will provide legal representation. In this
transition, there will be approximately 2-5 GAL's retiring. Youthworks will be
recruiting and training perspective GAL's.
Juvenile Director's Report Karen Kringlie distributed the Juvenile Court Annual Report. The Juvenile Director's have
compiled an Annual Report for year 2009. Referral numbers are a little bit lower statewide. The
most common type of offense referred to juvenile court is alcohol. The annual report gives
general information in regards to programs used, outcomes, etc.
A focus that the Juvenile Director's would like to take in coming years, is looking at younger
kids who are deprived before they become delinquent kids. So many end up in foster care
because parents are not treating them well and they end up in foster care with rules. While in
foster care, they either run away, get in trouble at school, and then become unruly or delinquent.
Preventative work could be done in the cross over youth before they hit the doors at the Youth
Correctional Center.
Karen Kringlie asked this Board to consider requiring a photo identification of parent's when
they come to court for informal adjustments. There are a number of children coming to court
with non-parents acting as parents. The language will be included in the notice to parent's or
legal guardians.
By consensus, it was determined to require photo identification by parent's when accompanying
children to informal adjustments and to include the language in the notice to parents or legal
guardian
Karen Kringlie stated in reference to Odyssey and Policy 409, which is the Juvenile Court Time
Standards, it recommends certain time periods that cases should be heard, depending upon if the
child is or is not in custody. These time standards have been built into Odyssey. The reports
show if a case is complete in 120 days, and if there is a detention hearing in 24 hours. Once the
entire state is on Odyssey, this Board may want to look at Policy 409 again, to determine if the
state is meeting the requirements of the Policy.
Strategic Plan (Status) Karen Kringlie distributed the Juvenile Court Services 2010 Strategic Plan. As the Strategic Plan
is a rough draft, it is not listed in any formal order. Louie Hentzen shared in Administrative Rule
35, Section 4 states to develop a long term plan for delivery of Juvenile Court Services. The
Juvenile Director's consulted with Lee Ann Barnhardt who has used this same format for the
Judicial Branch Education Commission Strategic Plan, which is a very good starting point.
Justice Maring suggested to start with some history of the Juvenile Court Process which will help
for the foundation of the Strategic Plan.
Karen Kringlie will refine the plan and bring it to the next meeting for comments.
Judge Herauf commented on the good format. He will place it on the agenda for the July 9, 2010
meeting.
Next meeting is scheduled Friday, July 9, 2010 at 8:30 a.m.
Meeting adjourned 10:00 a.m.
Respectively Submitted, Lana Zimmerman, scribe ND Supreme Court