Contents:

• Feature:
• Collaboration will Expand Services to Youth & Families (Juvenile Justice)
• Recent PJJOs
• Dependency & Neglect Updates
• CMC process
• Updated CMOs
• Juvenile Justice Updates
• Probation Data
• Restorative JeffCo needs Volunteers!
• Magistrate Updates
• Mag. Miloud appointed to District Court bench, and changes to mag. division judicial officers
• Conference Room 280 - How to Reserve
• Court Personnel
• Randa Richards - D&N Specialist
• Welcome, Blair Garnett - Div. 10 Law Clerk
• BPT Presentations

Collaboration will Expand Services to Youth & Families

JUVENILE JUSTICE

The Jefferson County Division of Children, Youth, Families, and Adult Protection (CYFAP) and the First judicial CYDC* programs are excited to announce a new collaboration in juvenile delinquency cases that will benefit youth and their families by reducing duplication and interaction with multiple systems. Effective immediately, CYDC will have access to all the same services that CYFAP can access and will be able to provide those services without the involvement of CYFAP.

"Effective immediately, CYDC will have access to all the same services that CYFAP can access and will be able to provide those services without the involvement of CYFAP."

 It is anticipated that this will result in faster referral times for services and less stress and obligations for the youth and families to have to interact with both CYDC staff and a CYFAP caseworker. CYFAP will continue to do assessments for placement in juvenile delinquency but are unlikely to be involved when services are needed and when CYDC is working with a youth and their family. As such, when a party requests services which can be handled by CYDC, the Court will normally order a verbal update by CYDC at the following hearing.

* "CYDC" means Colorado Youth Detention Continuum

Presumptive Appearances (PJJO 23-01)

PJJO 23-01, which modifies section 2. Dependency & Neglect. Permanency Review Hearings and Pretrial Conferences are now presumptively in person for counsel and parties. There has been understandable confusion around post-termination reviews in Div 10 which remain virtual. Post term hearings in Div 10 are presumptively virtual at this time whether they are set for review or permanency. If any specific hearing post-term hearing is converted to in-person, Judge Meinster will make that determination on the record at the time the next hearing is set.

The mode of a hearing not specified in TABLE 1 is at the discretion of the judicial officer and clarified at the time of setting.

RE: Emancipation Court (PJJO 23-02)

PJJO 23-02 vacates PJJO 17-02 re: Emancipation Court, as it is no longer necessary in light of legislation related to the Youth in Transition case type. (See HB 21-1094, HB 22-1245).

Juvenile Screening & Detention Guidelines (PJJO 22-06)

No substantial changes were made; this PJJO contains updated article 2.5 citations.

Updated Case Management Conference (CMC) Procedures

Judge Meinster, Presiding Juvenile Judge

As part of the Magistrate restructuring initiated last October, Magistrate Allen was assigned the responsibility of facilitating Case Management Conferences (CMCs) in dependency and neglect cases. We took this step for several reasons. First, we hoped that moving CMCs to the courthouse and returning them to an in-person format would increase engagement and efficiency. Most importantly, the presence of a judicial officer experienced in D&Ns was intended to facilitate a thorough discussion of the issues around adjudication and allow for immediately placing admissions on the record when resolutions were reached. The feedback I’ve received is that the process is going well. I want to recognize the hard work of Magistrate Allen, his judicial assistant Dylan Jennewein, and our juvenile staff attorney Clancy Johnson in creating and implementing this new protocol. The ultimate beneficiaries are the families we serve and that’s the goal!

To clarify and formalize the process, I wanted to share the following information.

Maintaining Confidentiality and Alleviating Potential Conflicts of Interest

All communications in the CMC are confidential; they will not be recorded or shared with other judicial officers. Magistrate Allen is conducting CMCs because he is not regularly hearing a D&N docket, thereby minimizing potential conflicts of interest.

1. Cases for which a CMC is held are marked as such in the Judicial Department’s case management system.
2. In the event Magistrate Allen must cover a D&N docket for another Magistrate, the parties will be informed (in advance, if possible) to determine whether they would prefer to have the matter reset or, if available, heard by an alternate judicial officer.

CMC Scheduling

Effective Monday, January 23^rd, CMCs will begin to be scheduled on alternating Mondays at 8:30am or 10:00am, as well as every third Friday at 8:30am or 10:00am in the conference room outside Courtroom 280. This schedule was selected in order to accommodate parties and counsel in FIT Court and to minimize conflicts for counsel who are representing clients in Division 10 jury trials.

1. CMCs will be in-person for all parties unless otherwise authorized. Parties will be able to step out of the room to confer in private with their counsel as necessary.
2. In the event a resolution is reached during the CMC, Magistrate Allen will then preside over placing the agreement on the record in either Division Q/Courtroom 230 or Division 10/Courtroom 280.
3. Magistrates and their clerks will have access to the CMC calendar availability, and will strive to set the case for CMC during docket (while all parties are present) instead of requiring a setting on notice.

Updated Case Management Orders (CMOs)

The CMOs have been updated to reflect the changes in CMC procedure. You may view the updated document for each county by clicking the buttons below:

1st JD Probation Data

(Susan Nickerson, 1st JD Probation)

Since the implementation of SB 19-108 (Juvenile Justice Reform), the 1^st Judicial District has been collecting data on youth sentenced to probation and the percentage of youth who show to probation for their initial appointment following sentencing. Being a pilot district has allowed us to have data collected over a full one year period. The JASR (Juvenile Assessment Summary Report) allows the court to have the required risk/need information to determine which conditions of probation should be ordered. The 1^st Judicial District has also found youth who complete a JASR are reporting to probation faster after sentencing and connecting to services quicker. In the calendar year 2022, the following data was collected:

Sentences to Probation (January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022)

188 New Sentences to Probation

156 JASR or PSI’s ordered

(118 JASR, 38 PSI)

36 sentences to probation without a JASR or PSI

Number of youth who report for their first probation appointment (out of the 156 youth with JASR/PSI ordered)

98% of youth who completed a JASR/PSI report for their first probation appointment vs.

72% of youth who were sentenced without a JASR/PSI show for their first probation appointment

Restorative Jeffco Needs Volunteers!

Restorative Justice in the 1st JD

Restorative JeffCo hired a new Director a few months ago, and the organization is looking for volunteers to become a facilitator or supportive community member for restorative community group conferences with victims and offenders to support accountability and healing.

The organization will provide training on March 11th from 9am to 1pm; more dates to come!

For more information, email: restorativejeffco@gmail.com

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS FLYER TO YOUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS:

RJFLYER LINK

Learn more!

Want to learn more about restorative justice in Colorado? You're in luck, because Restorative Justice Colorado has a webpage you can visit: https://rjcolorado.org/restorative-justice-defined/

Congratulations, Magistrate Miloud & Magistrate Tims!

In mid-December, the 1st JD announced an upcoming vacancy for a District Court Judge position upon Hon. Laura A. Tighe's retirement on March 1, 2023. Magistrates Marianne Tims and Meegan Miloud made the "short list" of nominees, announced January 18, 2023.

Governor Polis appointed Meegan Miloud to the 1st JD District Court on February 2, 2023. Since she was hired as a magistrate in 2020, her docket has consisted of probate, mental health, domestic relations, and juvenile matters. Previously, she was the owner of Miloud Law Firm, LLC, (2011-2021); Assistant Criminal District Attorney in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in Fort Worth, Texas (2006-2008); Assistant District Attorney in the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office in Cheyenne, Wyoming (2004-2006); Real Estate Legal Assistant at Finkel and Altman, LLC (2004); and Legal Assistant at Davidson, Bennett, & Wigger, INC (2002-2003). Ms. Miloud earned her B.A. from the University of Oklahoma in 1999 and her J.D. from Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in 2001.

Magistrate Shuffle

(Chief Judge Pilkington)

I am pleased to announce a three moves with the appointment to Magistrate Miloud to the DCT bench:

• Magistrate Loewer will move from Division S (problem solving courts) to Division L (probate, Gilpin, MH, and some DR POs). The move will be effective March 1.

• Magistrate Schaefer will move from Division O (domestic relations) to Division S (problem solving courts and some DR POs). The move will be effective April 1 (at the latest). 

• A new magistrate will be hired for Division O (domestic relations). The position has been posted and closes on February 28, 2023. The hope is that the new magistrate will take the bench by April 1.

Below is the link to view the DIV 10 Conference Room calendar. This will allow you to see if Conference Room 280 is available for use at any given time. If it is available and you’d like to reserve it, please email katherine.altschwager@judicial.state.co.us, and copy both randa.richards@judicial.state.co.us and Blair.Garnett@judicial.state.co.us, so they can add you to the calendar.

Conference Room 280 Calendar Link: https://teamup.com/ksni3du1fix1dfxh15

Congratulations, Randa Richards!

Randa Richards is now the Court's Dependency and Neglect Specialist. She provided a little background on her time with judicial:

I began working for Judicial in November 2011. From the start of my time with Judicial, I began working with the 2^nd floor Magistrates on Dependency and Neglect cases. During Covid I began clerking for Judge Meinster while continuing to work Dependency and Neglect cases with the Magistrates. In January 2023, I became the Dependency and Neglect Specialist. One of the goals of my new position is to make Dependency & Neglect in Jeffco as streamlined process as possible. While the Division R & U Clerks will be the initial point of contact for Dependency and Neglect cases for those divisions, I am still the point of contact for division 10 and will be a point of contact for any other issues. On a lighter note… If I ask you to come see me, it does not mean you are in trouble! 

Congrats, Randa!

Welcome, Blair Garnett!

Please extend a warm welcome to Blair Garnett, Judge Meinster's Law Clerk for Division 10, when you get a chance. Blair shared the following:

Hello! My name is Blair Garnett, and I am thrilled to be Judge Meinster’s new law clerk. I grew up in North Carolina as one of nine children, but because my mother is from Brazil, I do not have an accent. My mother took me with her to law school and to her job as a law clerk at the North Carolina Supreme Court, which heavily influenced my decision to do the same. First, though, I studied and rode horses (I was a competitive equestrian from age six to age twenty-two) at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, where I earned a B.A. in History (with a Civil War focus), a B.F.A. in Creative Writing, and an Honor’s degree in 2010.

Scholarships allowed me to study abroad at Dublin City University and to extern at the Natural History Museum of Dublin, as well as travel to India, where I trekked seventy-two miles through the Himalaya. After, I joined the Peace Corps. I left for Ethiopia in May 2011, and I completed my service in November 2012 (my town, Robe / the Bale Mountain National Park, is featured in the first “Mountains” episode of the Plant Earth series!). Next, I spent a year traveling the country in a tiny home before settling in Colorado, where I worked in the non-profit sector teaching emotional intelligence.

I accepted a scholarship to attend law school at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the fall of 2018. The Honorable Magistrate Judge Kristin L. Mix first gave me the opportunity to clerk as an extern in the fall of 2019. I then externed for the Honorable Justice Monica M. Márquez in the spring of 2020. Unfortunately, I had to take an eight-month medical leave in May of 2021, but I completed my degree by December. Most recently, I was a law clerk and judicial fellow with the 20th Judicial District in Boulder. I have over ten years of experience in the non-profit sector, from teaching to grant writing to program management and development, and I am deeply passionate about serving my community.

I speak—to varying degrees—Spanish, Portuguese, Amharic, and Afan Oromo. I am trained in cross-cultural communication, I am trauma informed, and I am a disabled individual (my pink heart glasses are for ocular migraines!). Most of all, I love to research, write, and help those in need. What an honor it is to join Judge Meinster, the Division 10 team, and the 1st Judicial District. Thank you all for the warm welcome! 

We're looking forward to working with you, Blair!

You can easily access all of Jeffco's past webinars by visiting one webpage: 

https://1st-j-d-bpt-presentations.constantcontactsites.com/past-events