Benchbook Resource Companion – 2nd Edition
In February 2022, the Pennsylvania Benchbook Resource Companion (PBRC) 2nd Edition was released. The PBRC 2nd Edition, revised by the Pennsylvania Dependency Benchbook Committee, a group of seasoned trial court judges overseeing dependency proceedings, contains an updated collection of social science resources.
The purpose of the PBRC hasn’t changed: it is intended to provide new and seasoned judges with a compilation of social science resources that can be easily accessed and are pertinent to their work in dependency court. This revised edition contains updated social science resources and three new topic sections. These new sections include Autism, Implicit Bias, and Reasonable Efforts.
While the PBRC was created by judges for judges, we encourage everyone involved in Pennsylvania’s Child Dependency system to access and utilize this resource.
The PBRC sections can be electronically accessed below.
To order a hardcopy of the Benchbook Resource Companion click here.
Attachment & Bonding
Child Development
- Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare Systems
- Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain: Working Paper #3
- The Impact of Trauma on Child Development
- Emotional Trauma in Infancy
- Key Terms and Concepts in Understanding Gender Diversity and Sexual Orientation Among Students
- Answers to Your Questions About Transgender People, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression
- Developmental Issues for Young Children in Foster Care
- The Impact of Foster Care on Development
- Ensuring the Healthy Development of Foster Children: A Guide for Judges, Advocates & Child Welfare Professionals
- Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents
- The Psychobiology of Maltreatment in Childhood
- What Does the Scholarly Research Say About the Effect of Gender Transition on Transgender Well-Being?
Domestic Violence
- A Judicial Checklist for Children and Youth Exposed to Violence
- Reasonable Efforts Checklist for Dependency Cases Involving Domestic Violence
- Checklist to Promote Perpetrator Accountability in Dependency Cases Involving Domestic Violence
- Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: An Early Childhood Educators Handbook to Increase Understanding and Improve Community Responses
- Child Protection in Families Experiencing Domestic Violence (2nd ed.)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Nicholson v. Scoppetta: An Analysis of the Effects and Suggestions for Further Improvements
- Childhood Aggression and Exposure to Violence in the Home
- Domestic Violence and its Impact on the Social and Emotional Development of Young Children
- Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey
- Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and Adolescents: An Overview
Grief & Loss
Implicit Bias
Individualized Case Planning
Mental Health
- Guide to Psychiatric Medications for Children and Adolescents
- Best Practice/Next Practice
- Psychotropic Medications [Website]
- Blue Print for Change: A Comprehensive Model for the Identification and Treatment of Youth With Mental Health Needs In Contact With the Juvenile Justice System
- Psychotropic Medication and Children in Foster Care: Tips for Advocates and Judges
- Conduct Disorder
- Ensuring the Healthy Development of Infants in Foster Care: A Guide for Judges, Advocates & Child Welfare Professionals
- Mental Health Medications
- Navigating the Mental Health Maze: A Guide for Court Practitioners
- Mental Health Assessment of Infants in Foster Care
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): The Basics
- Depression
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control
- Perinatal Depression
Physical/Sexual/Emotional Abuse
Placement
- Institutions versus Foster Homes: The Empirical Base for a Century of Action
- Congregate Care [Website]
- Kinship Care Task Force [Website]
- Why Should the Child Welfare Field Focus on Minimizing Placement Changes as Part of Permanency Planning for Children?
- Kinship Care in Pennsylvania: Creating an Equitable System for Families
- Why do Foster Care Placements Disrupt? An Investigation of Reasons for Placement Change in Foster Care
Reasonable Efforts
- Family Engagement: Partnering with Families to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes
- Reasonable Efforts to Preserve or Reunify Families and Achieve Permanency for Children
- Reasonable Efforts: Let's Raise the Bar
- Reasonable Efforts as Prevention
- Making Reasonable Efforts Findings in a Pandemic
- Dependent Children of Incarcerated Parents [Website]
- Father Engagement [Website]
- Unlocking "Reasonable Efforts": Kinship is Key
Substance Abuse
- Effective Management of Parental Substance Abuse in Dependency Cases
- Adolescent Alcohol and Substance Use and Abuse
- Drug & Alcohol [Website]
- Understanding Substance Abuse and Facilitating Recovery: A Guide for Child Welfare Works
- Drug Testing in Child Welfare: Practice and Policy Considerations
- Different Effects of Cannabis Abuse on Adolescent and Adult Brain
- The Role of Interagency Collaboration for Substance-Abusing Families Involved with Child Welfare
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and the Role of Family Court Judges in Improving Outcomes for Children and Families
- Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction
- Drugs of Abuse - DEA Resource Guide (2020 Edition)
- Children and Youth Who Use Cannabis for Pain Relief: Benefits, Risks and Perceptions
Transitioning Youth
- Promoting Permanency for Older Youth in Out-of-Home Care
- Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 26
- Transitional Youth [Website]
- Keeping Kids in Families: Trends in U.S. Foster Care Placement
- Distinct Subgroups of Former Foster Youth During Young Adulthood: Implications for Policy and Practice
- A Call to Action: An Integrated Approach to Youth Permanency and Preparation for Adulthood
- Youth in Transition: Changing Tracks to Successful Adult Lives
- Time for Reform: Aging Out and on their Own
- Continuing in Foster Care Beyond Age 18: How Courts Can Help
- Dependent Youth Aging Out of Foster Care in Pennsylvania: A Judicial Guide
- Leveraging the FFPSA for Older Youth: Prevention Provisions
- Leveraging the FFPSA for Older Youth: Reduction of Group Care Provisions
- Leveraging the FFPSA for Older Youth: Improving Transitions
- A Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime: Relational Permanence Among Young Adults With Foster Care Backgrounds
- A Report to Congress on Adoption and Other Permanency Outcomes for Children in Foster Care: Focus on Older Children