Early Childhood Court (ECC) is a problem-solving court which addresses child welfare cases involving children under
the age of three and is premised on the fact that healthy attachment and early brain development, from birth to age
three, is crucial to a child's future social-emotional health, school-readiness, and life-long well-being.
Infants and toddlers in the child welfare system are at extraordinarily high risk for developmental delays,
non-optimal attachment relationships, trauma, and toxic stress that can affect their adjustment and well-being for
years to come — often, tragically, for a lifetime. Early Childhood Court allows courts to take what is
currently known about the appropriate services and practices for early brain development and make them available to
the most vulnerable children.
The core components of Early Childhood Court include judicial leadership, a community coordinator, monthly court
reviews, evidence-based child-parent therapy, frequent parent-child contact, and the use of multidisciplinary family
team meetings.
Goals of Florida's Early Childhood Court
- Improve child safety and well-being
- Heal trauma and repair the parent/child relationship
- Promote timely permanency
- Stop the intergenerational cycle of maltreatment
The ECC model provides for the dependency court to serve as a platform for increasing the reach and effectiveness of
therapeutic evidence-based interventions for maltreated children and their caregivers. The model focuses on (1)
centering the attention of the Court on the developmental, emotional, relational, and mental health needs of the
young child (ages 0-5) in judicial decision-making, case planning, and permanency determination; (2) timely referral
to and judicial monitoring of services for adjudicated children and their parents; (3) cross‐disciplinary,
sustainable practice change at the case level; (4) reducing re-removals by increasing continuity in high-quality
foster care placements; and (5) expediting permanency planning decisions and achieving sustained placements for all
of our children.
Our Unified Family Court (UFC) Division forged further ahead with the support and commitment of
Miami-Dade’s lead child welfare agency, Citrus Family Care Network (FCN), to advance an “ECC Plus
model,” with a much greater, expansive scope than other statewide models. The goal is to approach cases in a
way where legal, societal, and individual problems intersect to attain the best outcomes for our families.
The Circuit’s ECC “Plus” Problem-Solving Court model launched in September 2021 in two stages.
First was the rollout of a comprehensive and targeted service delivery system for all children ages 0-5 with a
pending dependency case before any of the presiding UFC Division Judges and two General Magistrates in Miami-Dade
County. Case coordination is carefully managed by an experienced Early Childhood Manager from Citrus Family Care
Network (FCN). Second was the launch, in January 2023, of a specialized ECC docket for selected dependency cases
involving children ages 0-3, presided over by an ECC-designated, seasoned, and cross-trained, trauma-informed UFC
Division Judge.
The Problem-Solving ECC Structure and Caseload
The Problem-Solving ECC structure and caseload consists of a partnership between the UFC and CITRUS FCN as follows:
UFC Component
A cross-trained, trauma-informed UFC Division Judge will preside over the Circuit’s ECC, with a planned
caseload of 40 families heard on a specialized court docket. An ECC Program Coordinator position provides leadership
and manages all aspects of the ECC, supervises the ECC Case Manager, liaises with the CITRUS FCN team in selecting
new families and supporting existing families, and represents the Circuit’s ECC at state and national meetings
and conferences. Currently, calendars are conducted on a weekly basis.
Citrus FCN Component
Citrus FCN funds and administers all social services and affiliated program staff, including an ECC Early Childhood
Manager who leads and supports the ECC Behavioral Health Team; four ECC Specialists with extensive knowledge of
early childhood development and infant/early childhood behavioral health services that provide care coordination for
all children ages 0-5 who enter the child welfare system, remain in care regardless of whether or not they are on
the ECC specialized docket, but whose dependency cases are proceeding before the UFC Division Judges and two General
Magistrates; and two dedicated Community Coordinators/ECC Specialists for the specialized docket.
Citrus FCN ECC Specialists are each assigned to only one (1) of the Circuit’s three Full Case Management
Agencies (FCMA) and the families therein. ECC Specialists staff all cases with the assigned case manager and
participate in court hearings as needed. Families benefit from full care coordination, including referrals to any
needed services such as child-parent psychotherapy (CPP), dyadic therapy, infant mental health services, and
continued monitoring of the child’s overall development.
The two dedicated Community Coordinators/ECC Specialists for the specialized ECC docket each carry a caseload of 20
ECC families presided over by the designated ECC Judge. Both Community Coordinators have extensive knowledge of
early childhood development and infant/early childhood behavioral health services and provide care coordination for
all children who are accepted into the specialized ECC court docket. Additionally, Community Coordinators attend all
court hearings, coordinate and lead family team meetings, and provide support to the families as they navigate
through the ECC process.