The Permanent Judicial Commission on
Justice for Children was established in 1988 to address the
problems of children whose lives and life chances are shaped
by New York State's courts. The Commission is chaired by Chief
Judge Judith Kaye and its members include judges, lawyers,
advocates, physicians, legislators and state and local officials.
 The
Commission has spearheaded reforms to enhance the lives of
New York's children. It was instrumental in the passage of
New York State's Early Intervention Laws of 1992 and 1993 and
created the nation's first statewide system of Children's Centers
in the courts. Our centers in New York State's courts last
year serve over 45,000 children. In 1994, the New York State
Court of Appeals designated the Commission to implement the
New York State Court Improvement Project ("the CIP"),
a federally funded project to assess and improve foster care,
termination of parental rights and adoption proceedings.
The
Commission has launched pilot projects and several statewide
initiatives to support the overarching goals of the CIP. Statewide
activities include developing tools to focus on the individual
needs of children in foster care, identifying new resources
to assist the court in decision making and increasing resource
capacity to improve outcomes for children. The Healthy Development
of Foster Children Initiative is the cornerstone of the Commission's
strategy to address the individual needs of children in foster
care and their caregivers. This initiative is a multi-pronged
strategy that includes a booklet, Ensuring the Healthy Development
of Foster Children: A Guide for Judges, Advocates and Child
Welfare Professionals, training curriculum to assist all those
involved in permanency decision making in identifying a foster
child's health needs and numerous publications highlighting
practice and policy issues to insure that the all children
in foster care access needed services.
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