State Bar of Wisconsin

By Stella Pagonis, sole practitioner, Eau Claire

The Children and the Law Board met on December 15, 2008, for its annual strategic planning session. At the day-long meeting, the Board members reviewed the objectives of the past year and set goals and agendas for the upcoming year. There are four broad areas of interest for the Board: the legislative agenda, communication with section members, continuing education and training, and Board development.

Legislative Agenda:

• Returning 17-year-old youth to juvenile court. The Children and the Law Board is taking an active role in participating in Legislative Committee meetings to draft legislation to return 17-year-old youth to juvenile court. This issue continues to be a high priority for the Board.

• Minor Guardianships. Chapter 54 is focused on adult guardianships and appears to neglect many of the issues presented in minor guardianships. Individuals from the Children and the Law Section are actively involved in sponsoring a new statute dedicated to minor guardianships.

• Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).There is an effort to codify the existing federal law into Wisconsin statutes. The Board supports this action without expansion or enhancement of the federal law.

• Access to Juvenile Records. An assembly bill was introduced in 2008 to provide access of juvenile records by courts, law enforcement, prosecutors, and other agencies. The bill failed due to the overly broad nature of the release of records. A new bill will be introduced to permit more controlled release of juvenile records.

Communications with Section Members: As section members have likely noticed, the newsletter is now electronic. This is a means of providing information in a more timely manner. We hope to produce more, shorter newsletters. To encourage dialog on articles in the newsletter, the Section is also looking into a blog for the newsletter. Watch the newsletter for more information.

Continuing Education and Training: The Section will begin sponsoring webcast training during the noon hour. Topics will range from children’s court ethics to the effect of war on children to children’s mental health issues and competency.

Board Development: This initiative is intended to help new Board members become more involved and productive and to shorten the learning curve.