Enhanced Resource Guidelines (ERG) Podcast: Preliminary Protective Hearing: Family Engagement and Trauma Awareness

Judge Ernestine Gray (ret.) joins the podcast to discuss the Preliminary Protective Hearing with an emphasis on how to increase family engagement and trauma awareness. The key takeaways of the episode are:

1) Understanding the main purpose of the initial hearing is to determine whether removal was necessary to prevent further child abuse and neglect and how judicial leadership is critical at this stage of the proceeding

2) Understanding the primary goal is to make the initial hearing as thorough and meaningful as possible

3) Examples of courts demonstrating to parties that the court is taking an active role in moving the case forward, the court is actively engaging the family, and the court is aware of trauma activation and responses.

4) Awareness of how a problem-solving atmosphere can address the needs of the child and family and adapting the problem-solving approaches to an environment that activates a trauma response

5) Overview of the legal threshold for removal, reasonable efforts, returning child home, required findings, who should be in attendance and ICWA determination.