Working with Child Deprivation Cases in Georgia's Juvenile Courts

The law guardian/CASA should be mindful of the generally accepted philosophy that according to experts in the fields of child psychology and childdevelopment, children need to be raised in a permanent family setting in order to be emotionally healthy. It is also uniformly accepted that temporary foster careplacements do not provide children with the permanence they require. Hardin and Shalleck, "Children Living Apart From Their Parents,"Legal Rights of Children, Horowitz and Davidson (eds.) (1984) at 371-373. The goal of permanency for children leads to the conclusion that there are two possible desirable case outcomes for children in deprivation cases. First, in cases where the parents can be provided services that "will reduce the risk children face in the family home to an acceptable level, children should not be removed from the family home. If removed initially, children should be returned home as soon as the risk has been reduced to an acceptable level." The other path which might be followed exists in cases where the parents refuse services, or will not, within a reasonable time "benefit from the services necessary to reduce the risk to children to an acceptable level," and therefore, the children should be removed from the family home and another permanent placement should be promptly sought. Lawyers For Children, ABA Center for Children and the Law, (1990), at 313.

The focus at this stage for the law guardian becomes the formulation of a permanent plan for the child, and while the presumption in many cases is that reunification should be the goal, the court, with the information provided by the law guardian/CASA, can begin to consider other alternatives as well for permanency: plans that may include guardianship or custodial awards to other individuals, staffings for the termination of parental rights, or long term foster care agreements. More often than not, at this stage the law guardian/CASA will assist in the development and scrutiny of a reunification case plan, which will be court ordered, and which must be complied with by the parent or guardian if custody of the children is to be eventually returned to them. Be aware, however, that courts are increasingly looking at dispositional alternatives, as permanency planning is taking precedence over often futile or improbable attempts to reunify with natural parents.