The Texas Children's Justice Act (CJA) Project is a federally funded project administered by the Texas Center for the Judiciary. The CJA Project helps states to develop, establish, and operate programs designed to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases, particularly cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation, in a manner which limits additional trauma to the child; and to improve the handling of cases of suspected child abuse or neglect-related fatalities. The CAPTA amendments of the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 authorizes grants from this program to address the handling of cases of children with disabilities and serious health problems who are victims of child abuse or neglect.

The CJA Project has a multidisciplinary task force of child abuse professionals charged with making recommendations for improving the child protection system. Funds have been used to implement pilot projects and provide training for judges, attorneys, and child welfare professionals. Specifically, CJA has funded projects to mediate CPS cases, training for mediators, family group conferencing projects, training for attorneys ad litem, an annual conference for attorneys engaged in the civil prosecution of CPS cases, state-wide multidisciplinary training on child abuse and methamphetamine (DEC Training), and various other multidisciplinary child abuse and neglect trainings. For more information, please contact Ginny Woods, CJA Project Director, at (512) 482-8986. Please visit the CJA website here.