Additional juvenile court judge requested

A separate juvenile court judge would be added to counties with populations over 400,000 under a bill heard by the Judiciary Committee March 7.

Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford introduced LB463, which would add one judge to the Douglas County Juvenile Court.

The state Judicial Resources Commission recommended the Legislature create and fund an additional juvenile court judge in Douglas County, Ashford said, which would change the number of Douglas County Juvenile Court judges from five to six.

Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican testified in support of the bill. Douglas County has the largest number of child welfare cases, he said, which amounts to about 25 percent of the state’s entire caseload.

“We will never solve the problem of juvenile justice if we do not have ample resources for courts,” Heavican said. “This bill is a step in the right direction.”

Melanie Williams-Smotherman, director of the Family Advocacy Movement in Omaha, testified in opposition to the bill, saying that she opposes any judicial appointments until critical issues in Nebraska’s juvenile justice system are corrected. Nebraska criminalizes parents and children and forces them into the judicial system, she said.

“Children in the state are removed from their families at a rate at least double that of the national average,” Williams-Smotherman said. “The answer is not to add more judges or caseworkers, but to stop adding unnecessary removals from the home.”

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.