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HOWELL COUNTY

Juvenile Division seeks grant funds to improve court proceedings

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Howell County Commissioners met Thursday to approve a grant application for the 37th Judicial Circuit Court Juvenile Division, which has faced challenges with people not showing up to court for abuse and neglect cases. 

Jordan Land, chief juvenile officer of the 37th Judicial Circuit Juvenile Division, explained to commissioners that his office is applying for a grant to purchase technology, through the Missouri Court Improvement Program, designed to improve the quality of court proceedings in child abuse and neglect cases. 

The program awards federal funds through the office of the state courts administrator. 

“What we are having happen is, in some of the abuse and neglect court cases, people are not coming to court in person anymore because of COVID-19 or other reasons. We have either attorneys that are not present, children who have parents that are not present, or vice versa,” Land said. “What we are trying to do is purchase some equipment where they will be able to talk to their attorneys or clients with an iPad using some internet capabilities and Webex video conferencing.”

Land said that, in Howell County, court has been stopped completely and the courtroom cleared to allow an attorney and client to talk, or Juvenile Division staff have had to take the office’s attorney’s laptop, a computer provided by the state courts administrator, to use in another room, which is a security concern. 

“Obviously, we have confidential information on this computer,” he said. 

According to Land, the division is applying for a $2,766 grant through the state’s Court Improvement Program to cover the purchase of an iPad, keyboard, device protection, two-year mobile phone service and activation fees. 

“It’s not a big amount of money, and this is just the request to apply for it. Obviously, if we get awarded it, we will set a meeting for the accounting part of it. The deadline to spend the money is on the fiscal calendar, so that will be in September,” he said. 

"We figured we might as well get some money from them instead of using our local funds. It will serve its purpose and save some time in court," Land added. 

Howell County Presiding Commissioner Mark Collins made a motion to approve the division’s application for the grant. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously by the Howell County Commission. 

MISSOURI COURT PROCEEDINGS

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court of Missouri on March 16, 2020, suspended all in-person proceedings in all appellate and circuit courts — including all associate, family, juvenile, municipal and probate divisions.

The state’s courts began operating under precautionary measures and were encouraged to use all available technologies to conduct activities remotely to limit the number of in-person proceedings conducted in courthouses. 

Given the decrease in the national and local levels of COVID-19 cases and the effectiveness and availability of approved COVID-19 vaccines, the Missouri Supreme Court lifted prior statewide COVID-19 operational directives for Missouri’s appellate and circuit courts on June 15, 2021.

Missouri's courts are no longer are required to conduct court proceedings and courthouse activities in accordance with COVID-19 procedures that had been set for jury trials. 

Howell County, Howell County Commission, Juvenile Division, meeting


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