Gila County


CTIT County Contact: 
Mariah Lantz, CASA Coordinator, Court Administrator,
[email protected], 928-474-7145

 

CTIT County Goal:

Vision:
  • The Safe Babies Court Team of Gila County ensures appropriate services, timely permanency, and effectuates change for child and families involved with the dependency court process where the child is under the age of 3 years.
Mission:
  • To improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families involved in the juvenile dependency process.
Goal:
  • The Safe Babies Court Team will work to engage the parents in their cases to help facilitate timely permanency while considering the best interest of the children and families. The Safe Babies Court Team will help provide clarification to parents about meetings and requirements and ensure that invitations are sent timely to allow participation and active engagement.
  • The Safe Babies Court Team will engage the parents and caregivers who attend the Preliminary Protective Conference to help ensure understanding of roles and expectations for the dependency. The Safe Babies Court Team will work to provide more details and information during the Preliminary Protective Conference so that during the Preliminary Protective Hearing there will be time allotted for encouragement and admonitions to the parents.
Action Steps:
  • To help increase parental involvement in case plan staffings and child family team meetings the Team will ensure parents understand what to expect at these meetings and why they are significant to their case. The Team will help ensure that the parents understand when and where these meetings take place and that invitations are provided timely. The Team will provide speaking points and/or training for all parties about case plan staffings so ensure understanding and help increase attendance.
  • When safe and appropriate DCS with work with parents and supervised visit providers to increase parental involvement with doctor appointments, dental appointments, and other parenting activities.
  • DCS and Attorneys will assess each new case individually to help determine if a con-current case plan other then reunification is appropriate. If the family has not prior history of dependencies or severance attorneys may make that statement in court as part of their argument to not add a con-current case plan.
  • The Team will work together to make use of the Preliminary Protective Hearing to help engage the parents and support the out of home placements if they appear. The Team will work to include more dates for the potential needed hearings. The Team will provide the Facilitator with a calendar to help find a date a time available for the hearings and the Judge or Judicial Assistant will verify availability of the court. The Team will help to ensure the Placement understands they need for the child(ren) placed with them to have an intake with behavioral health (no matter their age) and schedule initial medical and dental appointments. The Team will follow up with DCS to ensure appointments have been completed.

Updated County Information:

March 2024 Update:

  • They have collaborated with DCS to develop a DCS Case Plan Staffing training to present to Judges, Court Staff, CASA's, and Dependency Attorneys in their County. They want people involved in Dependency cases to have a better understanding of the importance of participating in DCS Case Plan Staffings.
  • Gila County has restructured their (Preliminary Protective Hearing/Conference) PPC/PPH with the updated statutes and rules, helping to make everything flow better.
  • They are beginning to create two support groups; one for biological parents involved with a Dependency case, and the other will support caregivers involved with a Dependency case.
  • As an update for their DCPI program (Dependency Court Processing Initiative), their County has developed a workgroup to start rethinking how to use this program more effectively for their Birth to 3 population.

September 2023 Update:

  • Working more on parent engagement