How it Works

The Safe Babies Court Approach

At the heart of this approach is professionals coming together – in partnership, across sectors – to engage in collaborative, proactive work that improves the system.

Safe Babies Court teams keep the urgent developmental needs of infants and toddlers at the center of decision making and work to promote healing and resilience for very young children and their families.

Here's how Safe Babies Court is making a difference.

  • Hearings and family team meetings are held at least once a month. Frequent review hearings allow judges close oversight of each case, which goes hand-in-hand with the family support team's proactive, problem-solving work. Pre- or post-removal conferences are critical, setting the collaborative tone for family team meetings and launching vigorous family engagement efforts from the start.
  • The judge, local Safe Babies Court community coordinator and family team ensure child and family needs are systematically and fully identified as early as possible in the case process and that referrals are made to address specific needs with effective services and interventions.
  • All professionals involved in Safe Babies Court understand the impact of the families' trauma history, including experiences of maltreatment on adults and their very young children.
  • Continuous quality improvement is the engine that drives effective uptake and sustainability of Safe Babies Court. This means systematically collecting data and using it to implement needed improvements.

Core Components 

  1. Judicial and child welfare leadership
  2. Local Safe Babies Court community coordinator
  3. Active community teams
  4. Pre- and post-removal conferences and frequent family team meetings
  5. Continuum of services for children and families
  6. Meeting parents where they are
  7. Nurturing parent relationships and building social supports in the community
  8. Frequent, quality family time
  9. Concurrent planning
  10. System commitment to continuous learning and improvement

SC Safe Babies Court Site Leaders

Laurens County
The Honorable Mindy W. Zimmerman, Lead Judge
Sarenthea Williams, Community Coordinator

Spartanburg County
The Honorable Angela J. Moss
Ameka Burton, Community Coordinator

Orangeburg County
The Honorable Anne Gue Jones
Lailah Abdul-Mateen, Community Coordinator

 

Charleston County

The Honorable Michèle Patrão Forsythe

Michelle Bennett, Community Coordinator

 

Lexington County 

The Honorable Robert E. Newton

Gabby Heraly, Community Coordinator

 

For more information, contact Director of Programs, Josie Sawyer, at jsawyer@scimha.org

Partners