Nevada Judiciary

The Court Improvement Program (CIP) was placed under the auspices of the Administrative Office of the Court in 1995 and is overseen by the multi-disciplinary CIP Select Committee chaired by Justice Nancy M. Saitta.  CIP enables the courts and agencies involved in the child welfare system to develop systemic, statewide changes to significantly improve the handling of child welfare cases while ensuring compliance with state and federal laws regarding child dependency and child welfare matters.  The Committee oversees the application for, and distribution of, federal grant funds, sets minimum standards for program and funding criteria, and establishes policies and procedures to plan and develop these statewide changes.

What is the Court Improvement Program?

CIP applies for and receives grant funds from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The awards are made under the provisions of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 for Basic, Training, and Data strategic plans that are designed to reduce the amount of time children spend in foster care and enhance their safety and well-being.  Subgrants are provided to fund proposals that address Nevada’s federally approved strategic goals.

To provide structure to the CIP efforts and to continue to meet and further develop its goals in Nevada, specific strategies have been developed. The strategies have been organized into three separate strategic plans, based upon their primary area of focus. The three strategic plans and their attending goals are:

•      To continue the positive momentum the CIP has generated across the state to improve child safety, permanency, and well being;

•      To improve the quality of representation for all parties in dependency proceedings;

•      To implement a statewide strategy to engage the courts and legal representatives in the CFSR and IV-E review processes; and

•      To increase public awareness about child abuse and the rights of children and families in dependency proceedings.

•      In the area of education and training, the Nevada CIP will focus on implementing continuing education and training for judicial officers and court staff involved in child welfare cases, collaborative training of participants in child welfare court events, and assistance in the training of specific stakeholder groups involved in the child welfare arena.  The specific objectives in the education and training area are:   

•      To improve outcomes for children at risk and strengthen families;

•      To present collaborative multi-disciplinary training to the judiciary, state, and county child welfare agencies, and other stakeholders involved in child wlfare matters; and,

•      To encourage, and where appropriate support, training for specific stakeholder groups involved in the child welfare arena.

•      To develop a statewide data collection, analysis, and planning mechanism for child welfare cases capable of working in conjunction with the three predominant case management systems used in Nevada courts.

•      To define and incorporate child welfare court outcome measures into court procedures, and, where appropriate, incorporate the measures into the three predominant court case management systems and the Nevada Uniform System for Judicial Records (USJR) model.

•      To develop or enhance case management systems to track child welfare cases or improve processing of child welfare related cases.

•      To emphasize the use of data as a critical and meaningful resource for all stakeholders in defining jurisdictional needs, identifying resources that positively impact outcomes for children and families, and planning for the allocation of personnel and other resources. 

•      Part of the Committee’s stated mission is to “make the systems more effective.”  The goal of the Data Strategic Plan is to use empirical information to facilitate this meaningful change.

What Court Improvement has Funded

With deliberate interpretation of the Committee’s mission, the Committee has supported the implementation of such initiatives as:

•      The Early Resolution Project

•      The Surrogate Education Advocacy Program

•      Facilitation of Safety Teams

•      Data Exchange Projects between the Courts and Child Welfare Agencies

•      Installation of Video Conferencing in Dependency Courts

•      New Rural CASAs

•      Attendance at conferences and trainings

•      Statewide Child Welfare Conference

Thank you for visiting our webpage..

If you have comments or questions with regard to CIP or the information on this site, please contact Kathie Malzahn-Bass directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .