The analysis also examines how States approach the representation of children and parents in court, including whether or not State laws mandate the qualifications and training for guardians ad litem. The State-by-State information comes from a national study undertaken to determine the level of uniformity or variance in statutes since the initiation of Federal legislation attempting to improve State practice in the handling of child abuse and neglect cases. The information covers laws through mid-1997. The analysis revealed that States vary widely in their statutorily mandated time frames for processing these cases. Some laws fail to either specify or fully articulate time frames at one or more stages in a case. Even fewer statutes detail the duties, responsibilities, and powers of representatives for parties and the qualifications or training of representatives. The laws also do not clearly indicate the day-to-day practice in each State. Therefore, telephone interviews and a questionnaire have gathered further information. Tables, address from which to obtain matrix of State laws and the report of the National Court Improvement Study's project on permanency planning for children, and 40 reference notes