Justice Delayed: Court System Backlogs Leave Foster Families in the Lurch
by Asher Stockler and Tanzina Vega
As public lockdowns were implemented across the country to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many states' court systems also significantly reduced their activities, shut down in-person hearings, or indefinitely postponed routine matters. According to a Ballotpedia tracker, courts in every single U.S. state were impacted by these closures at some point during the pandemic, through a suspension of in-person activities either at the state or local level.
Where family courts have jurisdiction over foster care proceedings, children and parents were in many cases left behind as their court-monitored plans had to be frozen in place, temporarily, until the lockdowns began to lift. Although virtual hearings were often substituted to address growing backlogs of cases, family courts are administered at the local level, meaning responses to the pandemic were inconsistent.
For the next part of our ongoing series, “Justice Delayed,” The Takeaway is taking a look at how foster care systems, and foster families, were impacted by this abrupt shock to the system, and how courts are prepared to handle an expected surge of cases when normal activity resumes.