Resource Letter:
For Judges and Attorneys Handling Child Protective Services Cases
February 5, 2019
Announcing 2019 Spring Scholarship Opportunities for Child Welfare Attorneys
The Children’s Commission will provide 30 registration scholarships to judges and qualified attorneys to the National Association of Counsel for Children’s Red Book Online Training Course Additionally, the Commission is offering reimbursement scholarships to attorneys for the ABA’s 18th National Conference on Children and the Law: Access to Justice for Children and Families   or the National Conference on Parent Representation . Interested attorneys are welcome to apply for a scholarship to the NACC’s online training and/or one of the ABA conferences.  

To meet the scholarship criteria for the above events, attorney applicants must currently represent DFPS or take appointments on the CPS docket, be in good standing with the State Bar of Texas and with their primary judge (or with a professional reference if the applicant has a newly elected judge as of January 1, 2019), and commit to completing a post-event survey from the Children’s Commission. Attorney applicants for the ABA scholarship will also need a recommendation from their presiding or appointing judge (or from a professional reference if the applicant has a newly elected judge as of January 1, 2019). 

Greater detail about these current and future scholarship opportunities are provided here for judges and here for attorneys on the related scholarships pages of the Children’s Commission website.
 
The closing date for scholarship applications to both conferences is midnight on Friday, February 15, 2019 . Scholarships are limited so applications to either or both conferences should be submitted as soon as possible.
Scholarship Opportunities to NACC Red Book Online Training Course
The Children’s Commission will provide 30 total scholarships to judges and qualified attorneys in the form of waived registration fees for the Spring 2019 National Association of Council for Children’s (NACC) Red Book Online Training Course. The online course will consist of seven, 60-to-90-minute webinars delivered live between March 13, 2019 and June 5, 2019. Each session is delivered with opportunities for questions and interaction, and is also recorded and available on-demand for viewing at the participant’s convenience throughout the course. This online course is designed to cover the fundamentals of NACC’s legal treatise,  Child Welfare Law and Practice, 3 rd  Edition  (aka the Red Book) in a convenient and accessible format. This course will assist with preparations for those seeking certification as a Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) as well as provide a useful and practical child welfare law course covering material relevant to child, parent, and agency attorneys as well as judicial officers

More information on the course is available on the NACC website at 
https://www.naccchildlaw.org/page/RedBookTrainingCourse . MCLE for this course is being requested from the State Bar of Texas.

Attorney applicants must be currently representing DFPS or taking appointments on the CPS docket, be in good standing with the State Bar of Texas and with their primary judge, and commit to completing a post-event survey. Judges with applicants from their jurisdiction will be notified by the Children’s Commission and asked to confirm that the applicant is currently representing DFPS or taking appointments on the CPS docket. Those applicants with a newly elected judge as of January 1, 2019 will be asked to provide a professional reference and information about contacting their primary judge’s court coordinator for these purposes.

The Children’s Commission will be providing scholarships to this Red Book Online Training course on a first-come, first-served basis, until all 30 spots are filled. Early applications are strongly encouraged. Preference may be given to applicants who have applied for the NACC’s CWLS exam.

To apply for an attorney scholarship to the online NACC Red Book Online Training Course, please link here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019RedBookOnline .
To apply for a judicial scholarship to the online NACC Red Book Online Training Course, please link here:

This scholarship application will close at midnight on February 15, 2019 .
Scholarship Opportunities to American Bar Association (ABA) Conferences
The Children’s Commission will provide ten total scholarships to qualified attorneys in the form of reimbursement of up to $1,250 for conference registration fees and eligible conference-related travel expenses for either the ABA’s 18th National Conference on Children and the Law: Access to Justice for Children and Families   on April 9-10, 2019 or the ABA’s National Conference on Parent Representation on April 11-12, 2019, both of which will be held in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia. The Children’s Commission will be providing five reimbursement scholarships to each National Conference on a first-come, first-served basis, until all ten spots are filled. Early applications are strongly encouraged.

Applicants must be supported by their primary judge (or by a professional reference if the applicant has a newly elected judge as of January 1, 2019) in order to be considered qualified. In addition, applicants must be currently representing DFPS or taking appointments on the CPS docket, be in good standing with the State Bar of Texas and with their appointing or presiding judge, and commit to completing a post-event survey from the Children’s Commission.

Judges with applicants from their jurisdiction (or professional references and court coordinators as set forth above) will be notified by the Children’s Commission and asked to respond with a statement of support for the scholarship for each applicant.

Please note the following: an awardee’s failure to attend the conference after receipt of a scholarship may result in that awardee’s disqualification from receiving a future scholarship from the Children’s Commission.    

To apply for a scholarship to either of the upcoming ABA conferences, please link here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019ABAScholarhship .

This scholarship application will close at midnight on Friday, February 15, 2019 .
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For a complete list of  Jurist in Residence Letters  and  Attorney Resource Letters , please visit the Children's Commission website. Information provided by the Children’s Commission should not be read as a commentary by the Supreme Court of Texas or any other court. For more information about the Children’s Commission, please visit our  website .
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