Child Dependency Case Processing Refresher (from Child Welfare System Change) (On Demand Seminar)

A. Ellen White is a retired Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge who currently serves on the recall list for retired judges and as a judicial consultant.  Prior to her retirement on July 1, 2018, A. Ellen White served 24 years as the presiding judge of the Campbell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.  She also served three terms as Chief Judge of the 24th District Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts.  She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges for seven years and she is a past president of the Virginia Council of Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judges. She chaired the Judicial Education Committee; the Law Revision Committee and the Judicial Administration Committee of the Judicial Conference of Virginia for District Courts.  She received the Family Law Service Award from the Virginia State Bar Family Law Section in 2014 and the Hon. Harry L. Carrico Outstanding Career Service Award from the Judicial Council of Virginia in 2017.  She has served as a faculty member for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Continuing Legal Education Foundation and for numerous judicial education programs sponsored by the Supreme Court of Virginia.  She led her court’s service as a Best Practice Court in the area of foster care and adoption from that program’s inception by the Virginia Court Improvement Program in 2002.  She continues to serve on the Virginia Court Improvement Program Advisory Committee.

Prior to her appointment to the bench in 1994, Judge White was an attorney engaged in private law practice for eleven years in Lynchburg, Virginia.  She obtained a B.A. Degree from the College of William and Mary in 1980 and her J.D. degree from the University of Richmond’s T. C. Williams School of Law in 1983.

Sandra L. Karison is Director of the Court Improvement Program in the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, where she develops and facilitates the integration of procedures and best practices for court cases involving juvenile and family law. A particular focus for the program is on improving the court system’s ability to manage and resolve cases involving child abuse, neglect, foster care, and permanency planning for dependent children under state and federal laws and policies. This work is facilitated by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant first awarded to Virginia in February 1995. Ms. Karison also supports implementation of Judicial Council of Virginia standards for guardians ad litem for children and incapacitated adults.

Previously, Ms. Karison served as Assistant Director of Legal Research in the Office of the Executive Secretary, as Staff Attorney for the Court Improvement Program, and as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Richmond representing the Richmond Department of Social Services and Children’s Services Act office. She also has worked for Rappahannock Legal Services and in private practice, where she served as guardian ad litem for children and incapacitated adults.

Ms. Karison is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Richmond School of Law.