Kentucky Court of Justice
Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert participates in national summit on child protection

FRANKFORT, Ky., Nov. 2, 2005 - Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert took part in the National Leadership Summit on the Protection of Children held in Bloomington, Minn., in September. The theme of the conference was "Justice for Children: Changing Lives by Changing Systems."

“Our primary focus was to identify ways to improve court oversight of child protection cases," said Chief Justice Lambert. "Once a case comes before our courts, we need to ensure that a child does not languish in the system. This summit was about how to better process these cases so that disputes over child custody and permanent placement can be quickly resolved."

The national event was a joint effort of the National Center for State Courts, the Conference of Chief Justices, the Conference of State Court Administrators, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

In addition to Chief Justice Lambert, Kentucky was represented at the conference by Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sara Combs; Jefferson Family Court Judge Patricia Walker FitzGerald; retired Jefferson Family Court Judge Richard FitzGerald; Penny Warren, general manager of Mediation and Family Court Services for the Administrative Office of the Courts; and Patrick Yewell, general manager of the Department of Juvenile Services for the AOC.

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