The Louisiana Supreme Court's Court Improvement Program (CIP) received funding for two new CIP grants from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program in 2006:

Training funds for education and interdisciplinary training of judges, lawyers, social workers, CASAs and other child welfare stakeholders.

• Identify the specific skills and areas of knowledge that judges, attorneys, and other legal personnel need to best serve children and families;
• Develop curricula that address those skills and areas of knowledge and employ the most effective methods for imparting them;
• Ensure that all who need such training will receive it, such as by making participation convenient, providing inducements for attendance or imposing requirements for attendance, and tracking attendance;
• Ensure that those attending training actually obtain the identified skills and knowledge, such as through online testing and refresher training;
• Use technology such as online training and training videos;Convene local meetings and groups to participate in training developed in remote locations, such as through use of videos or videoconferences;
• Provide cross-system, multidisciplinary training on topics of mutual interest to different participants in the system, such as mental health, substance abuse, education of children in foster care, the role of caseworkers in court, and the preparation and use of court reports; and
• Co-locate judicial, court employee, and agency training, when practical, to allow a combination of cross-system training and separate training on specialized topics.

Download the 2010-2011 Training Grant