On an informal basis, all enrolling parents and guardians are offered outreach, support, parenting information, child development information, and an opportunity to observe trained professionals model effective ways of interacting with young children. On a formal basis, court child care administrators and social workers connect families with social services that specifically address their needs. Currently, court child care centers are operating at the Hampden Court Complex in Springfield, the Middlesex Court Complex in Cambridge, the Fenton Judicial Center in Lawrence, the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse in Boston, the Roxbury District Court, the West Roxbury District Court, the Dorchester District Court, and the Fall River Trial Court. Provider contracts were recently awarded this year for centers at the Chelsea District Court and Brockton Trial Court. These programs are expected to begin providing court child care in the Fall of 2000.
Additional centers are in design for new courthouses to be built in Plymouth and Worcester.
The Project is based on an innovative, highly successful, collaboration between the court system, the Office of Child Care Services, social service agencies, criminal justice agencies, academia, and the bar. A network of advisory committees at the state-wide and local levels inform and advance project development. An in-depth court child care program evaluation study recently completed by the University of Massachusetts Lowell indicated that when properly funded, court child care and the collaboration upon which it is based, is highly effective and beneficial to the courts and clients receiving service. As noted below, several of the eight centers were in start-up and provided service for only a portion of the fiscal year.