In 2008, the leadership at the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC), the Department of Health and Human Services (North Carolina Division of Social Services), and the Office of Indigent Defense Services entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding their joint responsibility to protect and provide permanency to North Carolina's children while improving outcomes for families involved in abuse, neglect, and dependency court proceedings.

The state level Memorandum of Understanding is designed to foster a collaborative relationship between parties involved in abuse, neglect, and dependency court hearings. The parties to the Memorandum agree that fostering a collaborative relationship can improve outcomes of safety, permanency, and the well-being of children involved in the court system. The signed MOU addresses best court practices, partner collaboration, training and cross-training, and the development and implementation of local Memoranda of Agreements that operationalize commitments contained in the state level Memorandum of Understanding.

Chief District Court Judges were urged to take the lead in convening steering committees to develop a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) or to revisit an existing MOA for local level stakeholders. Below are links to the state MOU and the guide that was provided to local districts to assist stakeholders with creating their local MOAs. Also provided are links to the signed MOAs that staff from the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts has received from judicial districts.

State Memorandum of Understanding