Advancing the Parent's Interests in Court: Parent Court Reports

When a trial court presiding over a Juvenile case is conducting a review pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. 7B-906 or conducting a permanency planning review pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. 7B-907, the trial court is largely unbridled in its ability to receive and examine evidence which will aid its review and enable its determination of ". . .the needs of the juvenile and the most appropriate disposition." N.C. Gen. Stat. 7B-906(c); 7B-907(b). Typically, the County Department of Social Services as well as the GAL office submit reports which, along with social worker and GAL volunteer testimony, comprises the majority of evidence received in most court rooms in North Carolina most of the time.

But aren't parent attorneys missing an opportunity here?


Nothing in the statute precludes the parent from making more of an evidentiary showing. In fact, information from the parent is the first thing mentioned with regard to what a trial judge may consider. Yet, almost without fail parents decline to take the stand to testify on their own behalf. Sometimes (well, admittedly a lot of the time) there is a very good reason for not taking the stand. But even if one grants that a parent's testimony may not be the wisest thing to prescribe in all occasions, there is always something that can be done which incurs minimal risk and which at the same time places the parent on a little better evidentiary footing than they would maintain otherwise: developing and submitting a parent report.

The report need not be elaborate. It can be only a page or two. But it should outline what efforts the parent is taking to comply with the orders of the court. This may include any number of narratives, from the quest to become employed, to finding a safe, appropriate home, to attending NA or AA, or the times that the parent has attended outpatient substance abuse treatment in the past three months. The report can include attachments too, from copies of employment applications and child support receipts to counseling attendance logs and letters of support from sponsors or others who might be willing to advocate on behalf of the parent in the community. Of course, one should not spare an opportunity of including photographs of visitation, to show the judge not only that the parent was there but that the visit went well and was beneficial to both parent and child.

While time is short and the pay on juvenile cases is low, everyone is expected to advocate zealously on behalf of their clients, however troubled or lowly they might be. To this end, consider what you might effectuate to this end through a parent court report. It may put a better face on an otherwise complicated evidentiary situation. On the other hand, it may be the one factor that sends the kids back home with your client.