Working with Child Deprivation Cases in Georgia's Juvenile Courts

The law guardian/CASA plays a major role pre-trial negotiation is one of the most critical phases of advocacy because a full-blown trial may not be in a child's best interest. A child may have to testify against a parent in a trial causing anxiety and trauma for the child. The experience could further alienate the child from the parent and can create a dynamic that is not conducive to successful family reunification. ABA Standards, supra at C-6, D-6. The law guardian should make all practical attempts to resolve a case prior to the adjudicatory hearing. This would include holding conferences with parties based on independently gained information, interviews, viewing of videotaped testimony and other information the team has gathered. The CASA can play a crucial role in these pretrial negotiations, bringing to the table home evaluations, psychological/psychiatric reports, relative placement analysis and proposed testimony from witnesses, all invaluable to the attorneys if there is to be a successful resolution. Bross and Michaels, at 90. It should be noted that all agreements, including proposed stipulations or admissions, amended language or other consensual proposals must have the approval of the law guardian/CASA.

Pursuant to pre-trial negotiations, the CASA can and should bring to the table information about the family members and family history; relevant historical data; information on reasonable efforts regarding services provided, if appropriate, available or refused; summaries of persons interviewed and documents reviewed; and a summary of the facts which justify his or her recommendations. Georgia CASA Publications: The Role of the CASA Volunteer in Court Proceedings, (1989).

It is here that the mediator role of the law guardian/CASA is most visibly seen. In most cases it would most definitely serve the child's best interests in having all adversarial parties agree on a plan that seeks family reunification (or an alternative permanent plan) prior to entering the courtroom. If, however, an amicable stipulated agreement cannot be reached, the next phase of the process is the adjudicatory hearing, which resembles in all aspects, a full trial.