Florida's Early Childhood Court, also referred to as "Baby Court," serves children under the age of three in the child welfare court process. Using the science of attachment and a trauma-informed team, outcomes are improved for safety, permanency, and well-being for abused and neglected young children during the most pivotal time for brain development. Early Childhood Courts are one type of Florida's many successful problem-solving courts designed to address both the legal and underlying nonlegal issues to break the cycle of multigenerational trauma and court involvement.
The Model
Florida started the national problem-solving court movement by pioneering the first drug court in 1989. Years later, another innovative Florida court, the Miami Child Well-Being Court, inspired the national expansion of a similar approach - Zero to Three's Safe Babies Court Teams. Then, in 2013, Florida State University's Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy was awarded a trauma and toxic stress federal grant, and used the funds to implement a "baby court team" pilot. From the time of this first pilot the "baby court team" took hold across the state and evolved into the Early Childhood Court initiative.
​
In 2019, the Florida Supreme Court approved nine best practice standards for these courts. Currently, the 32 court sites are working to implement these nine standards: target population, disadvantaged groups, roles and resposibilities of the judge/magistrate, child parent therapy, additional treatment and social services, family time, multidisciplinary team, caseloads, and monitoring and evaluation.
Resources
Child Parent Psychotherapy Overview Document
Training Videos
Short Documentaries
Florida State Courts System
National Infant Toddler Court, ZERO to THREE
Recidivism Protocols
Florida Association for Infant Mental Health
2020 Florida Statutes Regarding Early Childhood Court
Meaningful Family Time
Best Practice Standards
Implementation Manual
Early Childhood Court Partners
​
At the local level, Early Childhood Courts build strong partnerships among judges, infant mental health specialists, community coordinators, attorneys, parents, foster parents, service providers,
case workers, guardians ad litem, and more.
​
At the statewide level, three key partners provide support for these courts:
Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator,
Florida State University's Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy,
and Zero to Three.
Science is the foundation.
Early childhood development research, neuroscience, the science of attachment, trauma, and resilience.
Outcomes are improved.
Children in Early Childhood Court are safer and achieve permanency faster than those in traditional dependency court.
Taxpayers save money.
Florida TaxWatch, determined that the Early Childhood Court approach "yields significant benefits to taxpayers and society."