The Children's Commission has developed a number of judicial education trainings to meet Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credit required by the State Bar of Texas. Texas judges qualify in receiving MCLE credit at no charge for programs put on by the State Bar of Texas' CLE branch, Texas Bar CLE. For more information on how to receive MCLE credit at no charge, please contact the State Bar of Texas. Found below is a description of current program offerings.
Child Welfare Judges Conference (CWJC)
Each year, the Children's Commission plans the Child Welfare Judges Conference (CWJC) through the Commission's grant with the Texas Center for the Judiciary. TCJ specializes in judicial education and training opportunities for active, retired, and former Texas appellate, district and county court at law judges, as well as associate judges and court personnel.
The 12th Annual Child Welfare Judges Conference will be on October 21-23, 2019 at the Sheraton Austin Hotel at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. Registration is now open and is limited to judges handling child welfare cases.
On October 21st, a pre-conference event designed primarily for judges who have been on the bench less than a year, and General Jurisdiction judges who handle multiple matters, will focus on Education, Transitioning Youth, and Placement and Permanency issues with an emphasis on basic trauma-informed practices and ways to avoid re-traumatizing children in care.
The pre-conference will offer three hours of Continuing Judicial Education (CJE) and three hours of Family Violence (FV) credits. 12 hours of CJE credits and 5 FV credits will be available for the CWJC. There is no registration fee.
To register, please visit TCJ's website. Please note that users will need to be signed in to view the web page.
Family Justice Conference
In addition to the annual Child Welfare Judges Conference, the Children's Commission sponsors a half-day track at the annual Family Justice Conference hosted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary in January of each year. The 2018 conference was held January 22-23 in Bastrop. Please look for announcements regarding the next conference from the Texas Center for the Judiciary or through the Children’s Commission’s Jurist in Residence letters.
Past Summits and Conferences:
Beyond the Bench
Education and Foster Care Summit
Implicit Bias in Judicial Decision-Making
Permanency Summit
