Early Childhood Courts Judicial Training

The Washington State Legislature passed SB 5331 in 2021, establishing the Early Childhood Court (ECC) program. Included in the legislation is a requirement that judicial officers who preside over ECC hearings participate in an introductory eight-hour training program. After the initial training, judicial officers are required to annually attend a minimum of eight hours of continuing education related to the work of an ECC.

Once you complete the required hours of training, please send an email with the following information to Susan Goulet at susan.goulet@courts.wa.gov.

• Your full name
  • WSBA#
  • Name of your Court
  • “In compliance with the judicial training requirements for the Early Childhood Courts program, I completed the four hour training, Enhanced Resource Guidelines  for Zero to Three Safe Baby Court Judges, on [INSERT DATE].”

---

Available On-Demand Training

1). Putting the Science of Early Childhood to Work in the Courtroom: A Series for Judges and Attorneys, a six-hour recorded training available through the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative. To access the training, create an account at this link:  Capacity Building Collaborative Learning Management System; then click on the training titled: “Putting the Science of Early Childhood to Work in the Courtroom: A Series for Judges and Attorneys”. This training includes eight modules, for a total of six hours of training.

2). Enhanced Resource Guidelines for Early Childhood Courts , a four-session recorded training provided by Zero to Three and NCJFCJ. To access the training sessions, click on each session below:

Session 1: Role of the Judge and the Permanency Planning Hearing	1.5 hours
Session 2: Adjudication and Disposition	1.5 hours
Session 3: Review	1.25 hours
Session 4: Permanency	1.5 hours

3). Dependency 101 for Judicial Officers Course , on-demand series of virtual training modules that examine the information, practices, and skills judicial officers need to effectively preside over child abuse and neglect cases in Washington State. To access the individual modules, click below:

Module 1: Introduction to Child Dependency	2 hours
Module 2: Safety Framework	1 hour
Module 3: Shelter Care Hearing	1 hour
Module 4: Fact-Finding Hearing	1 hour

If you have any questions or challenges accessing the recordings, please contact Rachel Munoz-McCormick, Rachel.Munoz-McCormick@courts.wa.gov