The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) met in Addison from March 19 to March 22 in commemoration of its 86th year.
As the oldest judicial membership organization in the country, the NCJFCJ provides knowledge and skills to support judges, courts, and other related agencies that deal with juvenile, family, and domestic violence cases.
Some of the topics discussed at the conference included how to reform the juvenile justice system, trafficking, how families navigate the juvenile justice system, how to bridge teen and courtroom culture, the importance of data in juvenile justice reforms, and more.
Texas ranks second among states with the highest number of human trafficking incidents, only behind California, according to Wisevoter.
“I think people understanding that all youth are vulnerable and that there are certain populations of youth that are even more vulnerable to trafficking, including children who are in the foster care system or have been involved in the juvenile justice system, is vital,” said Aurora Martinez Jones, a judge of the 126th District Court in Travis County, speaking to The Dallas Express.
“I think understanding how vulnerable our kids can be and the places in which we need to be extra cautious are things we can do so that the whole community can be aware that these are our children and we all need to protect them,” said Jones.
Jones primarily oversees foster care and Child Protective Services (CPS) cases and knows all too well the issues plaguing the Texas Department of Child Protective Services.
Jones argued that Texas needs to do a better job at providing access to mental health resources.
“We need to look at the mental healthcare of our mothers and our fathers because it directly impacts how well children will do if the parents are not okay themselves. How can we expect them to take good care of their children and Texas if we are in a mental health crisis?” said Jones.
“I see families who are making contact with Child Protective Services. I see children making contact with the juvenile justice system. I see parents making contact with the criminal justice system because of a lack of mental health care and access to it. We looked at the studies that show the criminal justice system as the top mental health provider for people and that is absolutely unacceptable,” said Jones.
Jones told The Dallas Express that she sees the state moving forward in privatizing Texas Child Protective Services.
“Being a judge that’s worked in child welfare for several years, I am primarily responsible for all the cases in Travis County, and I see the direction that we’re going and my understanding is [that] the plan is for child welfare in Texas is to become privatized,” said Jones.
“We’ve had the argument about how well privatization will really work in that circumstance, and we are where we are now. … I see the state moving forward privatizing our child welfare system in Texas,” said Jones.
Jones told The Dallas Express she would like to focus on educating people as she does at the NCJFCJ.
“Education on the reality of the situation as well as what can be done to prevent it with getting that quality care to people is how we prevent those kinds of tragedies from happening,” she claimed.
The 2023 National Conference on Juvenile Justice ran from March 19 to March 22 at the Dallas Renaissance Hotel in Addison.
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