The Children’s Commission is offering reimbursement scholarships for qualifying Texas judges to attend the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) 2023 National Conference on Juvenile Justice scheduled for March 19-22, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. The conference features plenary and breakout sessions on juvenile justice, trafficking, child welfare, highlighting court best practices, innovative solutions, and self-care. The NCJFCJ is also offering a pathway to membership with registration for the conference, for those who are not currently members. More information about the conference and membership is available on the NCJFCJ website.

Since this conference will take place in Texas and will include tracks dedicated to topics impacting both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, the Children’s Commission will offer more scholarships to the National Conference on Juvenile Justice this spring. Accordingly, please note that the Commission will offer fewer scholarships for the NCJFCJ Annual Conference this summer.

To be eligible for a scholarship, applicants must hear juvenile justice or child welfare cases. Preference may be given to judges who have larger percentages of their docket dedicated to child welfare cases and may also be determined by the applicant’s jurisdiction location, to encourage geographic diversity.

Two types of scholarships are available:

• Reimbursement of registration plus eligible conference-related expenses, such as travel or lodging, up to $1,200 total, or
• Reimbursement of registration only for judges in the Dallas area or those who do not require any travel assistance in order to attend.

All applicants must agree to complete a post-event survey from the Children’s Commission. For more information about the scholarship and to submit an application, please visit the Judicial Scholarships webpage.

Please note, the application period for this scholarship opportunity will close at midnight on Friday, December 16, 2022. The Children’s Commission will notify all applicants of their scholarship status by Tuesday, December 20, 2022.