The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) is the nation's largest judicial membership and education organization for judges, court, and other related agencies with juvenile and domestic violence cases.
This week, the Reno-based non-profit is kicking off its longstanding 25-year model program. They call it the Child Abuse and Neglect Institute (CANI).
CANI is an educational opportunity for new and well-experienced court judges that provides them the knowledge and skills necessary for a child abuse and neglect court process.
"We do have new judges and we have veteran judges," said Doug Johnson, a retired juvenile court judge from Nebraska and former President of NCJFCJ. "But sometimes, the veteran judges rotate out and rotate in and so they want a refresher about what's happening. So, we have that wide variety, our cents so far because we do evaluations every day is that it's going well."
Throughout the year, the non-profit hosts this event across the country covering several different topics. Johnson says they just hosted their first CANI event in February in Minnesota. This week in Reno, where their headquarters are, they are covering child welfare.
"We cover the federal laws, the role of the judge, experts in substance abuse and mental health, family violence, child welfare act, federal law of reasonable efforts, and we take all this not just from talking head point of view, but we have a case scenario that runs through the week," Johnson explains.
As a part of their program, Reno Police have been invited to speak on how their facility dogs, like Winter a golden-lab mix, help victims during their court process.
"It's a terrifying process," said Lieutenant Michael Browett. "And I have been able to utilize Winter to break down those barriers to where someone who wouldn't talk to maybe a prosecutor about the case as they're preparing for trial now will talk."
With so many judges focusing on child welfare, Johnson says they believe they are improving a generation of lives by working with young children and their families along with the improved skills the judges have gained from this event.
"We pride ourselves that we are improving lives, and I really could not do any other kind of work. This is my pride and joy," said Johnson.
To learn more about the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges you can click here.
