Judge Zel Fischer of the Missouri Supreme Court presented a Permanency Award to Judge Leslie Schneider, who accepted it on behalf of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, Tuesday. The ceremony was at the Callaway County Courthouse, which is where Schneider felt the award should stay.
The award, which was created nine years ago, recognizes the courts that have met or exceeded the state's standards for holding timely hearings in regards to juvenile cases, Fischer said. The 13th Circuit Court, which includes Boone and Callaway counties, has received the award eight years once the standards were put in place- this year's award was for hearings held in the 2014 fiscal year.
"Sometimes you have to deal with high emotions with juvenile cases and sometimes it's difficult to meet these standards," Fischer said.
The standards require state courts to hold hearings to determine if a child is safe in their home or not, according to a press release. The release goes on to state that in juvenile cases a time frame applies to six types of hearings and it varies depending on the type of the hearing.
A first hearing is supposed to be held within three business days of a child being taken into protective custody, then allegations must be proved within 60 days and a disposition entered at 90 days. The court is required to hold periodic reviews if the child is held in protective custody until the court determines it is safe for the child to return to its natural parents or another permanent placement is made. The circuit court does what it can to make a decision within a year if the process requires more work and in the meantime keeps in touch with the children involved, Schneider said.
"It's important to have these hearings to make sure the children are having their needs met," Schneider said, "I'm proud of our circuit to ensure their needs are met."
In 2014 Missouri had almost 47,000 required hearings for juvenile cases, 98 percent which were held on time. Timeliness of hearings throughout the state has increased by an average of 6 percent, according to the release. The 13th Circuit Court had a total of 1,727 for fiscal year 2014, Cindy Garrett, the court's Deputy Court Administrator said in an email.
In qualifying for the award, the state circuit courts were placed in classes based on the total number of hearings due to be held during a particular time period, according to the release. In order to win, a circuit had to achieve either 100 percent timeliness for each quarter or an average of 100 percent annually. The 13th Circuit Court was one of 14 other judicial circuits to receive the award.