Citizen Review Panel

Judicial Citizen Review Panels

The Judicial Citizen Review Panel (JCRP) is a program of the Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges. Its purpose is to assist judges in determining the most appropriate permanency plan for children in foster care. By law, every child in the State of Georgia who is in foster care must have their cases reviewed either by a Judge or Judicial Citizen Review Panel every six months. The JCRPs consist of a cross-section of volunteers from the community, who undergo two days of specialized training from the Council of Juvenile Court Judges to acquaint them with the process of foster care review. Volunteers are also required to complete a criminal history check. Upon completion of the training, the volunteers are sworn in as officers of the court, to act in the best interest of the child. Panel volunteers (known as panel members), serve on one of nine panels, that monthly review cases of children placed into foster care by the Juvenile Court. The Panel’s ultimate task is to see that the children are in a permanent home as soon as safely possible. Panel hearings are conducted with panel members meeting with Division of Family and Children Services caseworkers, parents, the children, other family members, foster parents, service providers, and CASA to review the progress of the parent or custodian, to ensure compliance with the court-ordered case plan and to make sure all necessary services are being provided to the family, as well as monitoring the welfare of the children. Panel reviews are also designed to evaluate and make recommendations to DFCS on the progress or lack of progress on a case. Panel members should also seek out community resources that might aid in the strengthening of these families to avoid future involvement with the Court. Panel members then make recommendations to the judge on what should happen next in the case. The judge has final authority in all matters that appear before the JCRP.

The Division of Family and Children Services and the Court feel that every child in State custody deserves a safe and permanent home and while every effort should be made for reunification, no child should languish in foster care. Judicial Citizen Review Panels work as a group and meet monthly and work specifically with children who are in foster care. The Court will have issued an order designed to reunify the child with family, setting out certain goals to be reached by parents, as well as services to be provided by the Division to help accomplish the goals all within a given time frame. The Panels meet periodically throughout the life of a case; generally three to five trained volunteers, court staff, CASA, kids, case managers, parents, placement, and any other interested parties, and discuss progress on the case plan. They consider the progress of the parties in meeting their goals and may recommend changes that will help them to reunify with their children. The panel also flags cases where there are issues or problems in achieving reunification. This process ensures the right services are in fact being offered, that parents are making efforts to meet the goals of their case plan and that if the time comes, changes to the style of the case are made so children do not “get lost in the system”.  There are a total of nine Panels, each meeting monthly. Collectively, they review every foster care case in Cherokee County, seeing approximately 300 children in foster care throughout the year.

For more information about Panels contact Victoria Sheffield [email protected] or Kayla Carmichael at [email protected]