The Court of Justice supports a variety of specialty courts and programs to give citizens a better understanding of the law and how to navigate Kentucky courts. These programs are described below:
Citizen Foster Care Review Board
Nearly 775 volunteers across the state serve as members of the Kentucky Citizen Foster Care Review Board. The Kentucky General Assembly created the CFCRB in 1982 as a way to decrease the time young people spend in foster care. The volunteer reviewers help ensure that children receive the necessary services while in alternative placement and make every effort to locate permanent homes for these children. The Dependent Children’s Services Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts oversees the CFCRB program.
Court Designated Worker Program
The Kentucky General Assembly created the Court Designated Worker Program in 1986. Court designated workers help juveniles under age 18 who are charged with offenses to enter a diversion program, which lets them carry out restitution without court action and without creating a formal court record, or make their way through the court system, depending upon the courts’ ruling. CDWs are employed by the Administrative Office of the Courts and provide services to all 120 counties.
Court Interpreting Services
The Court of Justice believes that all citizens deserve fair and just treatment under the law. The Administrative Office of the Courts provides uniform and consistent interpreting services for individuals who have a limited ability to understand English, are deaf or hard of hearing, or are unable to speak. The court interpreter's role is to completely and accurately interpret or translate what is stated or written and not to provide legal advice or become an advocate for the court or any party.
Divorce Education
Divorce often creates or complicates problems for parents and children. Concerned parents are faced with the difficulties of a major transition while also helping their children adjust to changes. The Kentucky Court of Justice has joined other states in offering divorce education programs that help parents and their children maintain a healthy, workable relationship throughout this painful process. The divorce education programs vary in length and cost and include Cooperative Parenting and Divorce, Divorce Care, Divorced and Divorcing Parents, Families in Transition, Kids First: Children Coping with Divorce and Family Conflict, Kid's Time, Parents Achieving With Collaborative Teams, Parents Are For Good, Parents' Education Clinic, Turning It Around and Tween Time.
Drug Court
Kentucky Drug Court seeks to intervene and break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction and crime by coordinating the efforts of the judiciary, prosecution, defense bar, probation, law enforcement and mental health, social services and treatment providers. Today there is irrefutable evidence that Drug Court is achieving what it set out to do — substantially reduce drug use and criminal behavior in drug-addicted offenders.
Guardian ad Litem Program
Since 1999, the Administrative Office of the Courts has been responsible for preparing attorneys to provide legal representation to abused and neglected children across the Commonwealth. The goal of the program is to produce highly qualified guardians ad litem by coordinating training sessions, providing educational materials and serving as an overall resource. The current training curriculum gives attorneys an overview of Kentucky statutory and case law as well as the federal law that requires reasonable efforts to keep families together and provide children with safe and permanent homes.
KLEO Program
The Kentucky Legal Education Opportunity Program – KLEO – is changing the face of justice in Kentucky by providing scholarships to law students who are educationally disadvantaged. The goal of KLEO is to make the state’s attorneys more representative of Kentucky citizens, with individuals of all races and economic backgrounds serving as attorneys, judges and prosecutors statewide and as legal counsel in all three branches of state government. This important program is helping our legal professionals mirror the diverse society in which we live.
Mediation Program
The Court of Justice continually looks for ways to provide wider and more efficient access to justice. Crowded dockets create delays and additional costs for our traditional litigation system. In 2002, the Administrative Office of the Courts created a program that would formalize the use of mediation to resolve disputes outside of the courtroom. The Mediation Program provides individuals with timely and cost-effective ways to settle their legal disputes through a trained mediator instead of a judge.
Pretrial Services
Pretrial release plays a key role in the administration of justice in Kentucky. Kentucky created pretrial services in 1976 to replace for-profit commercial bail bonding services and is one of only a few states that have outlawed commercial bail bonding. While the national pretrial population in jails is about 70 percent, it is only 40 percent in Kentucky. In 2005, more than 42,000 defendants were released from county jails throughout Kentucky on some type of non-financial condition. Of that total, only 8 percent failed to appear in court.