The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project (NIWAP) working in partnership with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) on a State Justice Institute (SJI) funded project is pleased to invite you to participate in the National Judicial Network: Forum on Human Trafficking and Immigration in State Courts (“The Network”). The NJN provides a forum for judges to engage in peer-to-peer learning sessions with judges from across the country, participate in webinars, communicate with other judges in a members-only confidential email group, access topic-specific publications, and attend future in-person trainings on issues that arise in state courts involving human trafficking and immigrant victims. NJN sessions are intended to help judges learn more about these complicated issues and, consequently, improve access to justice for human trafficking and immigrant victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and other crimes.
View the National Judicial Network Outreach Letter (Updated December 4, 2023)
Read about the benefits for judges of joining the National Judicial Network in the State Justice Institute’s Newsletter.
If you are a judge, tribal judge, magistrate, commissioner, or other judicial officer and you are interested in joining The Network, please register through this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VGY9VJM.
Judicial Training Materials
In response to requests by and questions from state court judges, NIWAP, with support from the State Justice Institute, has developed bench cards, bench books, and a wide range of training tools that make readily available to judges and court staff legally correct information about immigration law and its implications for state family, civil, and court cases involving child and adult victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, neglect, or abandonment, and stalking.
Judicial Peer-to-Peer Sessions & National Webinars
Join the NJN’s monthly virtual learning sessions on the first Tuesday of every month from 3 – 4pm Eastern. Each session is labeled as a members-only peer-to-peer forum or a national webinar open to a larger audience, with topics set in advance by the NJN’s steering committee. Below you’ll find links to materials, PowerPoint presentations, and resources from the previous sessions, organized by topic, as well as upcoming dates/topics for the fall sessions:
Upcoming Sessions
March 4, 2025
April 1, 2025
May 6, 2025
June 3, 2025
Topical Substantive Index of National Judicial Network Sessions
National Judicial Network & Judicial Trainings
- February 6, 2024: Ensuring Judicial Safety: Strategies to Protect Judges and Court – Peer-to-Peer
- March 2, 2021: Introduction to The National Judicial Network – Peer-to-Peer
Trauma, Victim’s Needs, Effect on Testimony, and It’s Impact on the Courts
- January 31, 2023: Protecting Against Vicarious Trauma: Tools and Strategies for Providers Working with Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Trafficking – Webinar
- April 6, 2021: Trauma for Judges…Where do you see it? How you identify it? What do you do about it? – Peer-to-Peer
Human Trafficking: The Court’s Role
- July 16, 2024: Trafficking of Native Youth, Children, and Adults: Promising Practices and Response Strategies – Webinar
- June 11, 2024: What Judges Need to Know About the New T-Visa Regulations – Peer-to-Peer
- May 7, 2024: What Any Court Can Do: Your Role When You Encounter Victims of Human Trafficking – Peer-to-Peer
- December 8, 2023: Let’s Put Science First: Assessing Predatory Helpfulness and Coercive Control to More Accurately Understand Domestic Abuse and Sex Trafficking – Webinar
- November 7, 2023: Encountering Immigrant Child Trafficking Victims in Court: The Court’s Role & Tips, Tools, and Steps Courts Can Take – Peer-to-Peer
- October 10, 2023: Identifying Human Trafficking in Domestic Violence Relationships: How OTIP Letters and Certifications Can Enhance Access to Public Benefits and Services for Survivors of Trafficking and Their Children – Webinar
- April 4, 2023: Let’s Put Science First: Assessing Predatory Helpfulness and Coercive Control to More Accurately Understand Domestic Abuse and Sex Trafficking – Peer-to-Peer
- July 5, 2022: We Are Not Invisible: Improving Awareness of Human Trafficking Issues in Indigenous Communities – Webinar
- January 11, 2022: Criminal Justice Responses to Asian Women Caught in the Cross-Hairs of Exploitation and Human Trafficking – Webinar
- July 6, 2021: Judicial Responses to Labor Trafficking – Webinar
- May 4, 2021: Human Trafficking Victims Identification & Red Flags – Peer-to-Peer
Child Victims of Human Trafficking Including Immigrant Victims
- November 7, 2023: Encountering Immigrant Child Trafficking Victims in Court: The Court’s Role & Tips, Tools, and Steps Courts Can Take – Peer-to-Peer
- February 7, 2023: The Development of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Courts – Peer-to-Peer
- November 1, 2022: Trauma-Responsive Advocacy for CSEC Youth, the Model Rules, and Better Dependency Outcomes – Peer-to-Peer
- June 6, 2022: Familial Sex Trafficking: What Research Tells Us About Risk and Opportunity – Webinar
- May 3, 2022: Child Labor Trafficking in the U.S. – An Overview of Research, Policies, and Opportunities – Peer-to-Peer
- April 5, 2022: Commercial Sex Trafficking of Young Males - Peer-to-Peer
- December 7, 2021: STAR Assessment Tool Training: Helping Courts Identify Child Trafficking Victims – Peer-to-Peer
- October 5, 2021: Online Trafficking and Recruitment Trends for Child Sex Trafficking – Peer-to-Peer
Immigration Protections for Crime Victims
Humanitarian Immigration Relief for Victims – Forms of Relief
- March 5, 2024: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Surprising Information Every Family Court Judge Needs to Know About Immigration Law – Peer-to-Peer
- November 4, 2021: Immigration Options for Survivors & Court’s Role (Updates) – Webinar
- June 1, 2021: Immigration Options for Survivors & Court’s Role – Peer-to-Peer
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U and T Visas – Role of State Court Judges
- September 12, 2024: Two Part Series – Special Immigrant Juvenile Classification and Adoption of Foreign-Born Children: An Overview for State Court Judges – Webinar
- June 11, 2024: What Judges Need to Know About the New T-Visa Regulations – Peer-to-Peer
- March 5, 2024: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Surprising Information Every Family Court Judge Needs to Know About Immigration Law – Peer-to-Peer
- October 4, 2022: New Regulations, Policies, and Court Rulings: The Impact on State Courts Issuing Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Orders – Webinar
- April 13 and June 23, 2022: Two Part Series: Understanding Helpfulness for U Visa Certification and the Ongoing Assistance Requirement – Webinar
- November 2, 2021: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Answers Judges Questions on SIJS, U Visas, and T Visas – Peer-to-Peer
How Department of Homeland Security Policies Impact Courts
- February 4, 2025: VAWA Confidentiality Protections for Immigrant Survivors: Myths and Facts About Courthouse Protections – Peer-to-Peer
- December 8, 2022: End of the Year Update – Federal Laws & Policies and Latest Data Important for Courts Hearing Cases Involving Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Child Abuse and Human Trafficking – Peer-to-Peer
- February 1, 2022: New DHS Immigration and Victim Protection Policies – Peer-to-Peer
Refugees Protections and Legal Options for Victims in Refugee Families
- March 1, 2022: Afghan Refugees: What Courts Need to Know and the Role Judges Can Play – Peer-to-Peer
Protections for Immigrant Victims in Family Court
- February 4, 2025: VAWA Confidentiality Protections for Immigrant Survivors: Myths and Facts About Courthouse Protections – Peer-to-Peer
- December 3, 2024: Creative Civil Protection Order Remedies That Holistically Address Victim’s Safety and Cultural Needs
- October 1, 2024 & November 12, 2024: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Confidentiality: Criminal and Family Case Discovery – Peer-to-Peer
- March 5, 2024: You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: Surprising Information Every Family Court Judge Needs to Know About Immigration Law – Peer-to-Peer
- August 17, 2023: Effective Protection Orders for Immigrant Survivors – Webinar
- October 14, 2022: What Judges, Attorneys, and Prosecutors Need to Know About How VAWA Confidentiality Impacts Discovery In Cases Involving Immigrant Survivors – Webinar
- December 13, 2021: Child Custody and Immigration Related Abuse: Myths and Best Practices – Webinar
Adoptions of Foreign Born Children – What State Court Judges Need to Know
- September 17, 2024 & January 23, 2024: Getting it Right: Adoptions and Immigration Relief for Foreign-Born Children – Webinar
- June 6, 2023: What Judges Need to Know: A Discussion on the Hague Adoption Convention – Peer-to-Peer
Promoting Access to Justice
- April 2, 2024: Speaking Justice: Providing Victims and Litigants Language Access in the Courts -Webinar
- September 14, 2021: Cultural Competence and Its Importance in Immigration and Human Trafficking Cases – Peer-to-Peer
Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Child Abuse
- December 8, 2023: Let’s Put Science First: Assessing Predatory Helpfulness and Coercive Control to More Accurately Understand Domestic Abuse and Sex Trafficking – Webinar
- October 10, 2023: Identifying Human Trafficking in Domestic Violence Relationships: How OTIP Letters and Certifications Can Enhance Access to Public Benefits and Services for Survivors of Trafficking and Their Children – Webinar
- April 4, 2023: Let’s Put Science First: Assessing Predatory Helpfulness and Coercive Control to More Accurately Understand Domestic Abuse and Sex Trafficking – Peer-to-Peer
- March 7, 2023: Readily Identifying & Effectively Responding to Stalking in Family Court: A Resource for Judicial Officers – Webinar
- June 6, 2022: Familial Sex Trafficking: What Research Tells Us About Risk and Opportunity – Webinar
Improving Access to Public Benefits and Services for Immigrant Victims of Human Trafficking, Crime and Abuse
- October 10, 2023: Identifying Human Trafficking in Domestic Violence Relationships: How OTIP Letters and Certifications Can Enhance Access to Public Benefits and Services for Survivors of Trafficking and Their Children – Webinar
- September 12, 2023: Using Public Benefits Map & Charts to Improve State Court Orders in Crime Victim Cases – Peer-to-Peer
- May 2, 2023: HHS’ Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) Answers Questions on Identifying and Reporting Child Trafficking Victims – Peer-to-Peer
National Judicial Network Steering Committee Members
Leslye E. Orloff
Adjunct Professor and Director, NIWAP, American University, Washington College of Law
Hon. Abigail Aragon
Fourth Judicial District Court of New Mexico
Hon. Susan Breall
Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco
Hon. Rosemary Collins (ret.)
Former Presiding Judge, Family Division, 17th Judicial Circuit Court, Rockford, Illinois
Hon. Lori Dumas
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania
Hon. Katherine G. Essrig
Circuit Judge, Unified Family Court, Juvenile Dependency, 13th Judicial District, Hillsborough County, Florida
Hon. Ramona A. Gonzalez
Presiding Judge, Lacrosse County Circuit Court Lacrosse, Wisconsin
Abigail Hill, Esq.
Child Welfare Child Welfare/Human Trafficking Program Manager, Administrative Office of the Courts, Maryland Judiciary
Hon. Melissa Hemstreet
Kitsap Superior Court Judge, Girls Court, Kitsap County, Washington
Hon. Lora J. Livingston (ret.)
Senior Judge, 261st District Court, Travis County, Texas
Hon. Susan F. Maven (ret.)
New Jersey Superior Court – Family Division, Juvenile Human Trafficking Diversion Program
Rose Patterson
Chief of Education and Improvement, Office of the State Court Administrator, Tallahassee, Florida
Hon. Victor Reyes (ret.)
Former Judge-In-Residence, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Hon. John Romero (ret.)
Second Judicial District Court, Children’s Court Division, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hon. Toko Serita
Acting Supreme Court Justice, Queens Human Trafficking Intervention Court, New York, New York
Hon. Gustavo Sztraicher
Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles
Hon. Mary F. Weir
Associate Circuit Judge, 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri
Hon. Loretta M. Young
State of Delaware, Family Court, Wilmington, Delaware
NCJFCJ