Present: Judge Sonja Clapp, Chair Judge Doug Mattson Dennis Herbeck Cheryl Kulas David McGeary Dale Rivard Jean Delaney on behalf of Robin Huseby Tara Mulhauser
Absent: Judge Dan Narum Judge David Reich
Staff: Louie Hentzen Lee Ann Barnhardt
Judge Clapp called the meeting to order. She asked for comments on the minutes from
July 21, 2008 meeting. Dennis Herbeck moved to approve the minutes; Dave McGeary
seconded. Minutes approved. Judge Clapp asked for comments on the minutes from November
14, 2008. Tara Mulhauser moved to approve the minutes; Judge Doug Mattson seconded.
Minutes approved.
Report from Kate Harrison Consulting- Curt DeClue and Kate Harrison reported on
the Data Collection and Analysis progress. Please refer to Final Report.
Sub-Committee Reports
GAL Sub-Committee - Dave McGeary, Chair. Dave reported the sub-committee
reported twice since the last CIP meeting. The Guardian Ad Litem rule that the Juvenile Policy
Board worked on has been completed and approved by the Policy Board and has been forwarded
to the Supreme Court.
There will be a more formal request from the sub-committee in the form of requesting
that the administrative costs of the Guardian Ad Litem program be picked up by general funds as
opposed to Court Improvement dollars.
This sub-committee has gone through the 9 program evaluations and are making
recommendations and will be forwarded to Court Services. Lee Ann Barnhardt will be
completing the follow up on the recommendations and Dave will be forwarding them to the CIP
committee.
There was some discussion of the funding of the Guardian Ad Litem program. Lanny
Serrano and Brad Swenson put together some projected figures on what might be needed for the
program.
ICWA Sub-Committee - Dennis Herbeck, Chair. Dennis stated he participated in the
ICWA Conference held at the Ramkota Inn, Bismarck. He recommended this committee
participate in the next ICWA conference as there is good instruction on active efforts.
Dennis requested from Tara to have a representative on ICWA from DHS at the state
level, ie. Dean Sturn who replaced Don Snyder. Tara Mulhauser will talk with Dean about the
invitation to this committee.
Tara Mulhauser stated that the Oregon representatives were here from the Oregon
Department of Children and Families. Tara will forward pages from their active efforts
definition in terms of goals to this committee. It also talks about an early active engagement of
the child's tribe and the tribal community in building a connection to the child. Commitment to
the requirements and spirit of ICWA is a goal and using methods and providing services that are
culturally appropriate.
Dennis stated the sub-committee is also working on a laminated bench card cheat sheet
for the bench in regard to active efforts. He also stated that the sub-committee needs approval
from the CIP committee to propose to the Indian Affairs Commission to ask the tribes to identify
the qualified expert witnesses on their reservations. They need to be trained on what they may
run into during court. The idea of the training is to prepare themselves for the court system.
Lee Ann Barnhardt stated that it is in the strategic plan so by approving the strategic plan
of the grant then it would be approved. Dennis stated that he would ask Judge Christofferson to
present in front of the Indian Affairs Commission to have the tribe identify qualified expert
witnesses.
Education and Training Sub-Committee - Robin Huseby, Chair. Lee Ann gave report
and stated that there are attorney's and judges traveling out of state to continue training. She has
been meeting with Pete Tunseth who conducts the training for social workers.
There will be regional workshops again in the fall, but are waiting on the CFSR report to
come back as there are some definite court related items that have come up in the PIP. The next
PIP meeting is March 26, 2009. Lee Ann will be coordinating the regional workshops in
September.
Data Collection and Analysis Sub-Committee - Judge Clapp stated she has asked Judge Dan
Narum to chair this sub-committee and he has agreed. Louie stated he is the nominee to replace
Judge Kleven on the Juvenile Policy Board which will occur at the Administrative Council
meeting. What he is doing uniquely in the Southeast District is that he has decided that all
permanency hearings in his jurisdiction will be every 30 days.
CIP Grants
Basic Grant - Lee Ann stated the monies are directed to the lay GAL project. This
budget is the easiest to complete for the addition of general fund money. There are some date
changes, but the recommendations that Dave McGeary talked about will actually formalize and
to go through the committee process. This committee will get a formal recommendation
regarding future funding of the program with the recommendation of putting it in the general
fund money.
With the ICWA issues, the workable definition of active efforts was kept. but the
difference is that it no longer says legislative or statutory, it indicates in court code so it will be
taken out of the statutory language.
It was moved by Dennis Herbeck to approve the Basic Grant, seconded by Dale Rivard.
Basic Grant approved.
Training Grant - Lee Ann stated that CIP is going to continue to sponsor the ICWA
training.
Jean Delaney stated that Robin Huseby would like to have two regional training's as
having the four training's were overwhelming. Lee Ann stated that they had talked about having
2 regional training's and it should work out just fine.
It was moved by Judge Mattson to approve the Training Grant, seconded by Jean
Delaney. Training Grant approved.
Data Collection and Analysis Grant - Lee Ann reported on the next steps to put out an
RFP that would complete a quality assurance monitoring and will develop a plan. Lee Ann
would like this committee to decide as to how much to allow in the budget. The first step was
$120,000 and Lee Ann needs to know a reasonable amount of money to budget for the next step.
She would like to pull out some of the money to make modifications to CMS or customizations
and Odyssey. Lee Ann needs some input on how to split approximately $129,000 to modify the
software with the state match to help put in the budget.
Lee Ann stated that with CMS, what our staff can produce and some of the other things
we have to pay to implement.
It was moved by Dennis Herbeck to approve $40,000 to modify the software in the next
steps for the quality assurance monitoring, seconded by Cheryl Kulas. Motion carried.
For the Good of the Order
It was determined by this committee that the Agendas and Minutes from previous
meetings be posted to the Supreme Court website under committee's link. Judge Clapp will
forward a letter to Justice Dale Sandstrom to request this committee be posted to the website.
The next Children's Summit is scheduled for October 15-17, 2009 in Austin, TX. Louie
stated that the team that is attending is: Chief Justice VandeWalle, Tara Muhlhauser, a District
Judge from the CIP committee, Lee Ann Barnhardt and Louie Hentzen. This team will invite a
representative from DPI.
It was moved by Dennis Herbeck to adjourn, seconded by Dale Rivard, Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.
Next meeting is scheduled Monday, June 8, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. at the Ramkota Inn, Bismarck.