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Health of Court-Involved Infants, Toddlers & Preschoolers

About the ABA's Project

A recent explosion of scientific research has provided new understanding of the complex social, emotional, and intellectual development that unfolds in the earliest years of a child's life. The ABA’s Improving the Understanding of Maternal and Child Health (IUMCH) project seeks to improve child health-related knowledge and skills of attorneys, judges and other legal professionals who handle cases involving very young children.

For more information on this project, contact Eva J. Klain at 202-662-1681.

Training Opportunities

Is your jurisdiction interested in learning more about the special needs of infants and toddlers involved in the court system? The ABA’s IUMCH project can help! We can provide training to your court or attorneys to help them make informed decisions and effectively advocate to promote permanency for the youngest children in foster care. For more information on training opportunities, contact Eva J. Klain.

Join Our BabyLaw Discussion Group

The ABA’s BabyLaw discussion group is designed to help attorneys, judges, legal professionals and others exchange information on how to improve health-related outcomes for very young children involved in the dependency or other court system.

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Our Project Partners

The ABA is working with our project partners ZERO TO THREE and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to develop training programs and publications, including a series of Practice & Policy Briefs, a judicial benchbook, a child advocates guide and other resources. For more information about this collaboration and related activities, please contact Eva J. Klain.

About The Alliance for Information on Maternal and Child Health (AIM)

The American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law participates in The Alliance for Information on Maternal and Child Health (AIM), a Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) collaborative of national membership organizations and the MCHB. Its members include decision makers within state and local government, maternal and child health (MCH) professions, philanthropy, the health insurance industry, and business, as well as advocates for children and families.

Click here to read more about AIM and the involved membership organizations.

»Practice & Policy Briefs

Read the latest release in our Practice & Policy Brief series!

Visitation with Infants and Toddlers in Foster Care: What Judges and Attorneys Need to Know explains why safe and effective visitation is particularly important to the healthy development of very young children and emphasizes the role of visitation in permanency planning. The brief highlights key elements of successful visitation plans and shares promising community approaches.

Healing the Youngest Children: Model Court-Community Partnerships examines programs that apply research to court practices to improve outcomes for maltreated infants, toddlers and their families. The brief includes sample cases and shares tips for implementing successful partnerships drawn from the model programs it profiles.

Shorter versions of this Practice & Policy Brief appeared in the February 2007 issue of ABA Child Law Practice and the March 2007 issue of ABA Child CourtWorks.

Watch for upcoming briefs on subjects such as:

• Essential Policy and Practice Issues for Lawyers and Judges
• The Effects of Parental Substance Use on Infant and Toddler Development

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Early Childhood Online Resources

Knowledge is everything . . . and we can help you find the information you need. Click here for links to important resources on early childhood and the health care needs of very young children.