The ABA’s section on Children and the Law has two conferences coming up in May. Visit the ABA Center for Children and the Law Website for more details.

• Improving Representation for Parents in the Child Welfare System:
  THE FIRST NATIONAL PARENTS’ ATTORNEYS CONFERENCE
  May 13-14, 2009 Washington, DC
• Representing Your Client and Advocating for Change in Challenging Times:
  THE 2009 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN AND THE LAW
  The Center’s 30th anniversary conference
  May 15-16, 2009 Washington, DC
  (with optional choice of 3 full-day Preconference programs on May 14)

ABA Center on Children and the Law: Improving Representation in the Child Welfare System: The First National Parents’ Attorneys Conference

May 13-14, 2009
DAY 1
9:30 – 10:45 Welcomes and Opening Plenary – The Context in Which We Practice: Race, Poverty and Achieving Social Justice for Families
Martin Guggenheim, J.D., Bryan Stevenson, J.D., Kevin Ryan, J.D. and Sharwline Nicholson
10:45 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:15 Plenary speaker/discussion – continue The Context in Which We Practice: Race, Poverty and Achieving Social Justice for Families
12:15 – 1:45 Lunch on your own
1:45 – 3:15 Workshop A
1.
How Government and Not-for-Profit Agencies Can Improve and Measure the Performance of Private Attorneys for Parents
This workshop will discuss how major government programs and institutional not-for-profit providers recruit, train, mentor, monitor and regulate the attorneys who represent parents in child protection proceedings. The workshop will also present how the programs gather data and use measures to demonstrate improved performance and increase attorney funding.
Andrew Cohen, J.D., David Meyers, J.D., Joanne Moore, J.D., Trine Bech, J.D., Susan Jacobs, J.D., Diana Dunker, J.D., and Carolyn Signorelli, J.D.
2.
Moving Beyond Traditional Legal Strategies: How to Improve Representation and Inspire Reform through Holistic Advocacy for and with Parents
Chris Gottlieb, J.D., Sarah Katz, J.D., Kathy Gomez, J.D., Kara Finck, J.D., and Jenny Crawford, J.D.
3.
Representing Parents with Disabilities in the Child Welfare System
Ella Callow, J.D.
3:15 – 3:30 Break
3:30 – 5:00 Workshop B
1.
Representing Parents During the Investigation Stage of a Case
CPS investigation practices may go unchecked when families do not have accurate information about their rights and obligations and legal advocacy and representation during an investigation. The early involvement of attorneys and other advocates can help prevent removals of children and minimize intrusive investigations. Recent class action and individual federal court litigation in New York, Illinois and California have also established due process rights to challenge adverse investigative findings by child protection authorities. In this workshop, attorneys and parent advocates who have extensive experience representing family members in the earliest phases of child protection actions will describe the rights of families during investigations, strategies for protecting those rights, opportunities for social worker and parent advocate interventions and considerations of when to cooperate and when to fight.
Susan Jacobs, J.D., Diane Redleaf, J.D., David Lansner, J.D., Melissa Staas, J.D., and Jillian Cohen, L.M.S.W
2.
Practicing in the Court of Public Opinion: Using Journalism Techniques to Win Over Judges, Journalists, and the Public
In this workshop, two experienced journalists who have worked closely both with parents affected by the child welfare system and professionals who work in that system, and a lawyer active in reform efforts who teaches law students to provide high-quality legal representation for parents, will train lawyers to use journalists’ tools to better engage parents and represent them in court, and to help make the case for systemic reform.
Topics covered will include engaging a client with stories by their peers, finding a beginning, middle and end in a client’s narrative and helping parents themselves make their own case, and the case for reform. The workshop also will cover the stereotypes reporters start with - and how to counter them, what reporters need to turn your cases and/or causes into a story, and retaking the high ground of “children’s rights” and “child safety.”
Richard Wexler, Nora McCarthy and Matthew Fraidin, J.D.
3.
Employing Social Workers and Experts: Integrating Strategies to Promote Reunification and Prevent Termination
This workshop focuses on how parent’s attorneys can use social workers to present their case to the Court. The workshop is co-
presented with California and Washington State. The time will be spent with a brief overview of the laws in each state regarding the use of social workers and then give practical tips through case examples on how an attorney may utilize a social worker in any given case.
Marymichael Miatovich, J.D., Jana Heyd, J.D., and Erin McKinney, M.S.W.
5:00 Reception
Day 2
9:00 – 10:30 Workshop C
1.
Collaborative Justice Courts Systems: How to Protect Parent Clients
This workshop will focus on the various collaborative justice courts, including drug court. Presentation will include cross-over courts (juvenile dependency, juvenile delinquency, criminal) that may be heard by the same bench officer. The workshop will be dedicated to the protection of parent’s fundamental liberty interests in their children while being the subject of a collaborative court system.
Matt Fraidin, J.D., Victoria Doherty, J.D., and
Pamela Rae Tripp, J.D.
2.
Cornerstone Advocacy in the First 60 Days: Achieving Safe and Lasting Reunification for Families
This workshop introduces a promising approach to child dependency cases in which a child is placed in foster care. “Cornerstone Advocacy” supports family reunification, when possible, by devoting intensive advocacy during the first 60 days of a case in four areas: Visiting, Placement, Services and Conferences.
Jillian Cohen, L.M.S.W. and Michele Cortese, J.D.
3.
Representing Incarcerated and Criminally-Charged Parents in Child Welfare Proceedings
This presentation will address the unique challenges of representing parents who are incarcerated and/or facing criminal charges. It will cover key issues related to the representation of not only parents who are incarcerated on charges unrelated to their
child welfare case, but also what to do when the parent faces criminal charges arising from abuse or neglect allegations.
Judge J. Michael Ryan, Kathleen Creamer, J.D., and Nancy J. Baratta, J.D.
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 12:15 Workshop D
1.
The Parent’s Voice and its Impact on Law Making: State and National Levels
Tanya McLeod and Sabra Jackson
2.
Providing Appropriate Services for Parents Involved with the Family Court System: Behavioral Parent Training for At-Risk Parents
This workshop will provide the audience with information on evidence-based, skill-based Behavioral Parent Training programs, and how such programs can be useful for parent attorneys and family judges. The presenters will highlight the Behavioral Parent Training Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and its work with at-risk families and the Departments of Social Services and Family Courts in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The Behavioral Parent Training Clinic provides skill-based training for parents at-risk for or with a history of child abuse and neglect. The presenters will engage the audience in discussions regarding the most appropriate time for families to receive such services and the roles attorneys and judges play in referring parents for services. Discussions will include providing services for vulnerable populations, specifically parents with intellectual disabilities.
Jennifer L. Crockett, Ph.D., BCBA , Michael F. Cataldo, Ph.D., Emily D. Shumate, Ph.D., BCBA and Olivia Hird, B.S.
3.
Using Civil Rights Actions to Achieve Change
Parents are usually on the defensive, being charged with abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, or subjected to intrusive investigations. Civil Rights actions against Child Protective Services give parents, and children, a chance to go on the offensive, and obtain compensation, change CPS behavior, and establish important principles of law. Civil rights actions allow for more discovery, time, and the advancement of creative legal theories than juvenile court does. Remedies in civil rights actions include declaratory relief (finding that CPS policies or practices are unconstitutional), injunctive relief (forcing CPS agencies to change their policies and
practices), and damages (to compensate parents and children for the harm that CPS agencies have caused).
The Workshop will cover constitutional rights of families, 42 U.S.C. §1983, causes of action, defenses, and discovery.
Carolyn Kubitschek, J.D., David Lansner, J.D., and
Diane Redleaf, J.D.
12:15 – 1:30 Lunch – Legislative Advocacy: How to Engage Law Makers in Our Goals
Congressman Chris Murphy (invited), Joanne Moore, J.D. and Patrick Dowd, J.D.
1:30 – 3:00 Workshop E
1.
The Tyranny of the Experts: Challenging Experts in Child Welfare Cases
This workshop will explore and develop, in an interactive way, methods of challenging expert testimony in child protection cases, including competency, relevancy and admissibility. It will also aid attorneys representing children in presenting expert testimony on behalf of the client.
Jay Elliot, J.D.
2.
Racial and Socioeconomic Disparity and the Disenfranchised Client: Difficult Questions, Modest Answers, and Practical Strategies
This workshop addresses broad concerns of disenfranchisement and racial and socioeconomic disparity with concrete, practical tools available to parents’ counsel. Even though there are limited options for addressing these issues in individual cases, there are nevertheless steps that can be taken to maximize our ability to level the playing field and empower our clients with the goal of speeding successful reunification and ultimately preventing unnecessary removal and the resulting trauma to children. With the combined experience of 31 years in the field, Andrew Hoffman and Cristen Conley use engaging techniques to lead the participant in examining the difficult questions that cut to the heart of these issues, exploring the attorney’s role in challenging these persistent problems, and focusing on field-tested strategies.
Andrew Hoffman, J.D. and Cristen Conley, J.D.
3.
The Child in Context: A Family-Centered Approach to Representing Parents
This presentation will focus three specific areas in representing parents in child protection proceedings. It will focus on a practical hands-on approach to steps parents’ attorneys can take, and incorporate principles from the Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the ABA Standards of Practice for Attorneys in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases.
Richard Cozzola, J.D.
3:00 — 3:15 Break
3:15 – 5:00 Town Hall meeting about future of organization – Identify Top Priorities for National Organization
A View from the Bench: The Importance of Excellent Representation for Parents
Judge Len Edwards

American Bar Association: 2009 National Conference on Children and the Law: Representing Your Client and Advocating for Change in Challenging Times

May 14-16, 2009 Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street, Washington, DC
AGENDA
Thursday, May 14
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Pre-Conference Sessions (separate fee; includes lunch)
1. Advanced Trial Skills for Child Welfare Attorneys
Trial Skills for Child Welfare Attorneys is the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s “flagship” training program. This day-long program has been offered in over 10 states and is ideal for attorneys in child welfare law who represent child welfare agencies, parents and children. The training provides attorneys with strategies in dependency cases that help children achieve permanency more quickly. The training helps beginning and advanced attorneys expand their knowledge of the rules of evidence and their skills in examining and cross-examining witnesses. The course includes a mix of lectures, demonstrations, and mock trial exercises for participants and includes a presentation on ethical issues for attorneys who practice in the child welfare field. Participants leave with a trial notebook to help them organize and prepare for their next case.
Anne Marie Lancour, J.D, M.A.T.; Heidi Epstein, J.D., M.S.W.; Jennifer Renne, J.D.; Sally Inada, M.A.; David Kelly, J.D., M.P.A.; Scott Trowbridge, J.D.; Margaret Burt, J.D.
2. Courtroom Education Advocacy for Children and Youth in Out-of-Home Care
Positive education outcomes are critical to the safety, permanency, and well being of children in foster care. This session is designed for children’s attorneys, child welfare agency attorneys, parents’ attorneys, and anyone else interested in learning more about courtroom advocacy to improve education outcomes for children in out-of-home care. The day will include an overview of the laws related to the education needs of children in care and issues including special education, young children, adolescents, and involving youth in their education planning and cases. A mock courtroom activity, supervised by a juvenile court judge, will improve participants’ advocacy skills around education issues.
Judge Ernestine Gray; Sheryl Dicker, J.D.; Janet Stotland, J.D.; Barbara Duffield, J.D.; Jessica Feierman, J.D; Kathleen McNaught, J.D.; Andrea Khoury, J.D.; Brandon Barham, J.D.
3.
Advocating for Your Client’s Health From Birth Through Adolescence
The health of children involved in the court system can have a major impact on their lives while in care and beyond. This full-day session will focus on what attorneys can do to ensure the health of their clients is addressed at every age – infants, toddlers and preschoolers through adolescents – and at each stage of court proceedings. Various national experts will address: the health and developmental needs of children and youth; special considerations for very young children including visitation practices and IDEA Part C early intervention services; advocacy tools for adolescents such as pregnant and parenting teens or youth transitioning out of foster care; and involvement of children and youth in decisions about their health care.
Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD; Candice Maze, JD; Sheryl Dicker, JD; JoAnne Solchany, PhD
Eva Klain, JD; Lisa Pilnik, JD
Friday, May 15
8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30 − 10:00 a.m. Plenary Session
Enhancing Children’s Services in a Difficult Financial Climate
How is the poor economy likely to affect the child welfare system? What should advocates for children and youth know about the federal Stimulus Package and how it may lead to enhancing services for abused and neglected children and the their families? What can be done now at the congressional and state legislative level to address the needs of these vulnerable children and their families?
Presenters to be listed shortly
10:00 − 11:30 a.m. Workshop Session Group A
1. Immigrant Children and Youth: Part 1 of 2
This presentation will focus on better immigration assistance to dependent youth, including stabilizing a child’s lawful immigration status and its direct implication to the child’s permanency goals. It will explore the importance of addressing youth immigration status needs, collaborative models developed to work with and for dependent immigrant youth, and provide an overview of various forms of immigration relief available to this vulnerable population. It will also address the needs of immigrant clients from a social work perspective, addressing the myriad of issues that impact new immigrants in foster care and discuss best practices for culturally competent social work services that meet those unique needs, describing how a social worker-attorney team model is being used to meet the needs of this population.
A. Michelle Abarca, J.D.; Deborah Lee, J.D.; Abigail Trillin, J.D.; Rumeli Snyder, L.C.S.W.
2. Special Education Decision-Making for Children in Foster Care
This session will highlight the new provisions for IDEA 2004 and the final regulations that accompany the new law as they relate to special education decision making for children in out-of-home care. Special attention will be paid to the definition of parent, surrogate parent appointments, and other important advocacy issues that professionals working with children in foster care need to know.
Janet Stotland, J.D.; Kathleen McNaught, J.D.
3. Advocating for Pregnant and Parenting Teens in Foster Care
This workshop will teach advocates about the needs of pregnant and parenting teenagers in foster care, including implications for finding appropriate, safe and supportive placements, preservation of the teen’s parental rights and educational outcomes. Specific strategies for helping these youth get the information and services they need will be shared.
Leslie Heimov, JD; Gina Desiderio, M.A.
4. Working with Lawyers and Judges to Ensure Safety, Permanency and Well Being for LGBTQ Youth
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth who are in foster care have unique needs that their advocates and judges can help address. Through the use of a DVD with youth telling their stories about their own experiences, lecture, and mostly interactive discussion and problem-solving, participants will learn about the scope of this of this issue, how to address negative attitudes with zealous representation, the involvement of youth in decision-making, and dealing with the safety, permanency and well-being needs of this population. Participants will receive a copy of Opening Doors for LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care: A Guide for Lawyers and Judges.
Mimi Laver, J.D.; Andrea Khoury, J.D.
5. The Unfulfilled Promise: The Right to Counsel for Parents and Children in Child Welfare Proceedings
This session will explore the right to counsel for parents and children in child welfare proceedings and examine the ways in which the right has not been fully implemented despite statutory and constitutional mandates. Participants will learn about the current state of the right to counsel and will discuss ways in which to reform the system
LaShanda Taylor, J.D.; Prof. Vivek Sankaran
6. Implementing the “Fostering Connections Act” in Tough Economic Times (to be repeated)
The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 has many important provisions tied to a potential increase in federal support for child welfare agencies, but still will require states to allocate additional funds for such clients as permanent kinship caretakers and foster youth who’ve reached their 18th birthday. This session will provide an overview of the entire Act, focusing on strategies and arguments to help assure states take advantage of the new options provided them and meet the other requirements of the Act.
MaryLee Allen, MSW; Howard Davidson, JD
7.
Improving Advocacy for Parents and Children Using the CFSR, PIP, and Title IV-E Review Process
The Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) required by ASFA afford attorneys who represent parents or children a tremendous opportunity not only to advocate for their clients regarding the adequacy of case planning and services as compared to national standards, but also to work at a systemic level to improve each state’s child welfare systems. The CFSR process including the Program Improvement Plans (PIPs) and the IVE Review/Audit process require the involvement of the court and stakeholders in order to satisfy federal requirements. This workshop will provide you with a concise and targeted summary of CFSR, PIP and IVE law and will prepare you for full participation in these processes with a focus on improving child welfare system responses child and parent needs.
Joanne Brown, J.D., M.S.W.
11:30 a.m. − 12:30 p.m. Lunch On Your Own
12:30 − 2:00 p.m. Workshop Session Group B
1. Representing Juvenile Status Offenders and Homeless Youth
This session will offer practical tips about working with and representing youth who runaway, are homeless, are truant or “incorrigible.” Speakers will offer guidance to help practitioners avoid deeper involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems for their clients as well as explore a variety of legal issues affecting homeless youth.

Jessica Kendall, J.D.; Casey Trupin, J.D.
2. Advocacy for Grandfamilies and Kinship Care Families: The Fostering Connections Act and Beyond (to be repeated)
This workshop will review current state and federal legislation that supports relative caregivers and the children they are raising. It will include laws, programs and resources that exist to help caregivers address various challenges as well as strategies to implement effective state policies that support children being raised by grandparents or other relatives.
Heidi Redlich Epstein, J.D., M.S.W.; Jaia Peterson Lent, M.S.W.,
3. Ethical Issues in the Practice of Child Welfare and Juvenile Delinquency Law (to be repeated)
Attorneys will engage in a series of hypothetical cases addressing ethical issues when representing youth in child welfare cases and juvenile delinquency cases. Particular emphasis will be on rules regarding confidentiality, representing clients with diminished capacity, interacting with parents, the “state”, and opposing counsel, and the difference between a GAL “substitute judgment” model and a client-directed model of representation.
Jennifer Renne, J.D.
4. Immigrant Children and Youth: Part 2 of 2
This presentation will focus on the educational rights of immigrant and language minority children and youth. Children with immigrant parents and language minority youth are the fastest growing segments of the U.S. child population, and 1 in 4 children in the U.S. is either an immigrant or a child of immigrant parents. Millions of dollars in federal money is allocated to states to address the unique educational needs of these youth, yet there is often very little state oversight with respect to that funding. This panel will review the educational rights of limited English proficient (LEP) and migrant youth and discuss corresponding state and local advocacy strategies to ensure that these rights are enforced. It will also focus on educational issues impacting LEP and migrant youth in the juvenile justice and foster care systems.
Deborah Escobedo, J.D.; Cynthia L. Rice, J.D.
5. Preventing School Dropouts and Getting Dropouts Back in School
Research has confirmed that habitually truant youth, and youth who drop out of school, have poor outcomes that often lead to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Connecting at risk youth with legal advocates can improve outcomes for youth in terms of their both staying in school and returning to school. Attorneys can use their unique skills and vantage point to play an early and influential role as partners with the educational system to increase the likelihood of graduation. The role and leadership of lawyers working with educators is critical to achieving needed reforms. This workshop will inform lawyers of model truancy prevention and intervention programs that involve the volunteer efforts of the Bar in promoting effective reforms that reduce truancy and dropping out and provide attorneys with information and resources to enhance their skills in advocating for youth at risk of dropping out.
Presenters to be listed shortly
6.
Implementing the “Fostering Connections Act” in Tough Economic Times (repeat session)
7.
The Judge’s Role When Counsel Aren’t Doing All They Should and The Untapped Contempt Power of the Juvenile Court
This session will address two issues judges regularly face: 1) An exploration of when/how judges should “fill in” for attorneys not doing an adequate job representing clients or presenting cases. What can attorneys do if they object to the court “making another attorney’s case”? Judges must maintain impartiality, get the evidence they need to make a sound decision, protect rights of all parties, not interfere with the attorney/client relationship, etc; 2) Advocates for parties in child welfare cases should know the tools to invoke the power of the court to hold in contempt, since orders are often ignored by parents and the agencies, and this session will inform them on how to get this power invoked to better serve children.
Joanne M. Brown, J.D., M.S.W; Prof. Gerald Glynn
2:00 − 2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 − 3:45 p.m. Workshop Session Group C
1. Advocating for Infants: Practice and Ethical Considerations
This workshop will focus on the unique advocacy needs of very young children, including ethical considerations based on practice standards. It will explore best practices regarding visitation (or family time); special health needs and medical issues; key decisions for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers at each required hearing; permanency outcomes and options from a very young child’s perspective; and strategies for preventing post-permanency reentry into care.
Candice Maze, JD
2. Youth Aging Out of Foster Care and the Fostering Connections Act (to be repeated)
This law opens the door for many youth in foster care to receive enhanced support while achieving successful permanency. It provides federal support to states that wish to allow youth to remain in foster care beyond 18. This session will explore creative ways states can use the Act to enhance older youths’ outcomes and discuss ways states can meaningfully involve youth in the court and legal process, as well as in their permanency planning. Finally, we will consider opportunities for advocacy on behalf of older youth that flow from this recent successful legislative reform effort.
Miriam Krinsky, J.D.; Andrea Khoury, J.D.
3.
Innovations in Lawyer Engagement in Child Welfare Proceedings and Systemic Reform
Creative child welfare system legal work in three states will be described. In one, a statewide children’s representation office has elevated the practice of juvenile law and empowered attorneys to provide high quality representation through appropriate compensation and caseloads, access to experts and litigation support, and creation of networking and collaboration opportunities. In another, a class action settlement agreement heightened standards of legal practice. The third, a foster care reform legal resource center, helps lawyers enforce children’s constitutional and statutory rights.
Trenny Stovall, J.D.; Theresa Spahn, J.D.; LaShawn Young, J.D.
4. Accessing Parental Substance Abuse Treatment While Budgets Are Being Cut
Parent, agency and children’s attorneys will learn about maximizing services to substance abusing parents, despite budget cuts. Service provider and attorney will discuss tips on how best to stretch service dollars while budgets shrink. This session will encourage participants to share their best practices at accessing substance abuse treatment for clients in challenging economic times.
Sally Small Inada, M.A.; Anne Marie Lancour, J.D.; Vostina DeNovo, Ph.D.
5. Interstate Issues: Client Advocacy and System Change
Understanding the interstate placement process is more important than ever with states making budget cuts, families increasingly relocating for work, and recent federal legislation. Discussion will include strategies for improving outcomes in individual cases as well as systemic improvements related to the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.
Scott Trowbridge, J.D.; Prof. Vivek Sankaran
6.
Advocacy for Grandfamilies and Kinship Care Families: The Fostering Connections Act and Beyond
(repeat session)
7.
Engaging Noncustodial Fathers and Paternal Kin in Child Welfare Cases
This session will discuss the importance of father engagement as well as provide practical tips to lawyers on how to better engage fathers and paternal kin throughout child welfare proceedings. Speakers will also provide guidance on working with male clients and male help-seeking behavior.
Ron Clark, M.A., M.B.A.; Richard Cozzola, J.D.
3:45 − 5:15 p.m. Workshop Session Group D
1. Safety Decision-Making: Practice Issues for Attorneys
Attorneys will learn a comprehensive approach to child safety decision making as outlined in a new publication titled Child Safety: A Guide for Judges and Attorneys. For example, attorneys will learn how to assess such difficult questions as: How do you know whether a child’s severe injury represents a pattern of dangerous family conditions or is a one-time incident? What criteria do you use to determine whether a child is safe? How do you decide whether to return a child home? The workshop will address the fundamentals of safety assessments and safety planning, and provide practical guidance and advocacy strategies.
Jennifer Renne, J.D.
2. Children’s Healthy Attachment and its Behavioral Implications throughout Childhood
This workshop will present essential knowledge about early childhood development and healthy attachment. The benefits of healthy attachment relationships and their implications throughout childhood, including behavioral issues for older children, will be a main focus of the discussions.
JoAnne Solchany, PhD
3. The Role of Lawyers and Judges in Education Issues: Linking the Fostering Connections Act to Courtroom Advocacy (to be repeated)
This session will highlight the new education provisions enacted in the Fostering Connections Act and discuss how the new law can impact courtroom advocacy and attention to education issues. Use of tools to support education advocacy will be highlighted, including the revised Judicial Education Checklist, and the importance of judicial leadership in raising education needs and issues in the courtroom will be discussed.
Judge Ernestine Gray; Kathleen McNaught, J.D.
4. Seeking a Home in Tough Times: Securing Housing for Youth Transitioning from Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems and Child Welfare Advocacy Strategies for Homeless Parents
The first part of this workshop will explore strategies for finding suitable housing for transitioning youth. Presenters will share information about work being done around the country on this important issue. The second part will educate attorneys about the extrinsic housing factors inevitably intertwined with parents’ ability to reunify with their children. Attendees will learn how housing issues relate to their dependency cases; how to make the proper record on these issues at trial, advocating for clients in the face of agency resistance to aid with housing, and trends at a local and national level addressing these issues.
LaKesha Pope, M.P.A; Roxana Torrico, M.S.W.; Ellen Bacon, J.D.; Katie Baca, J.D.
5. Youth Aging Out of Foster Care and the Fostering Connections Act (repeat session)
6. How Quality Parent Representation Can Improve Child Welfare Outcomes
Participants will learns how two large systems, one public, one private, use a combination of strategies related to parent representation to shorten length of stay in foster care and increase the rate of successful reunification. The workshop will also discuss large system approaches using lower case loads, training, preparation of cases, monitoring attorney performance, teaming with social workers and peer advocates, and core advocacy principles as strategies to improved specific child welfare outcomes.
Joanne Moore, J.D.; Jillian Cohen, J.D.: Trine Bech, J.D.
7.
Interviewing Children
Panelists will focus on the skills involved in interviewing a child client. Specific areas of focus will include: effects of developmental levels of children and age-specific considerations; explaining court procedures, client confidentiality, and roles; building relationships and gathering information; and specific interview and persuasion techniques in difficult settings. Attendees will also be trained on how to use the Section of Litigation video Interviewing the Child Client (narrated by television star Amy Brenneman) to train others to interview children. A copy of the video and the accompanying teaching guide will be provided to all session participants.
Prof. Kristin Henning; Vinny Herman, J.D.; Christine M. Smith, J.D.; Prof. Joseph Tulman
Saturday, May 16
8:30 − 10:00 a.m. Plenary Session
Youth Panel: Getting Our Voices Heard to Achieve Better Outcomes
“All I ever wanted was to be heard and not just dismissed.” This quote from a youth in foster care is common. They have rarely been allowed to meaningfully participate in their dependency court proceedings. Federal law now requires the court to consult with the child, in an age-appropriate manner, about the child’s permanency plan. As a result, many courts are starting to implement policies and procedures to involve youth actively in their dependency hearings. You will hear from youth about their experiences in court and learn new ways to make that experience more consequential.
Miriam Krinsky, J.D.
10:15 − 11:45 a.m. Workshop Session Group E
1. Trafficked and Prostituted U.S. Citizen and Immigrant Children: Legal Representation Strategies
This session will enable legal advocates to recognize that child maltreatment victims may also be victims of human trafficking and help them identify the key legal issues, remedies and causes of action available to child victims of trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
Robin Thompson, JD
2. Ethical Issues in the Practice of Child Welfare and Juvenile Delinquency Law (repeat session)
3. Working with CASA Volunteers to Serve Child Clients
Ever wonder who all those CASA volunteers are and how they can help you advocate for your child clients? This workshop will give you the basics of the CASA’s role in child protection cases, the way their role relates to the role of the child’s attorney, and how you can work together to advocate effectively for the best interests and/or the legal interests of your child clients.
Andrea Sparks
4.
Advocacy to Promote Dignity in Schools: Addressing the School “Pushout” Issue
This session will describe efforts to reverse school zero-tolerance policies and practices, and propose ways in which advocates can better help children and youth with school behavior related problems and issues to avoid being pushed out of school through suspension, expulsion, or other practices that discourage them from remaining in their classes and completing school with a diploma. Lawyers will be informed on how to challenge pushout from a human rights perspective.
Presenters to be listed shortly
5.
What Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Attorneys Should Know About Federal Resources
What should attorneys and others should know about federal resources that can help their practice? For example, there are an enormous number of federal training and technical resources that legal practitioners unfortunately know nothing about. This session will include panelists from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice and will also provide information on agency referral sources and help available from other federal agencies beyond HHS and OJJDP.
Kathi Grasso, J.D.
6.
The Role of Lawyers and Judges in Education Issues: Linking the Fostering Connections Act to Courtroom Advocacy (repeat session)
7.
Understanding & Addressing Compassion Fatigue in Attorneys Practicing in Juvenile/Family Court
Generally, disaster workers and medical and mental health professionals are identified as suffering from compassion fatigue and secondary trauma. However, attorneys for children may be particularly vulnerable since their training may not focus on dealing with their own emotional reaction to traumatized clients in abuse and neglect, delinquency, guardianship, custody, visitation and orders of protection cases. This session will discuss how to create a dialogue about this issue, develop a better understanding of it, and create strategies in the workplace to address it.
Dawn J. Post, J.D.
12:00 − 1:30 p.m. Conference Luncheon
Doing More With Less: Challenges for Child Welfare Agencies and Courts
Presenter to be named shortly
1:45 − 3:15 p.m. Workshop Session Group F
1. Multidisciplinary Team Advocacy Within a Child Law Program and Aiding & Abetting in the System Change of the Child Welfare System
This session will detail the pitfalls and advantages experienced in switching from an attorney only child representation staff to having multidisciplinary case teams, with each client assigned both an attorney and social service professional. National interest from other jurisdictions has led to technical consulting, including uniquely configured case management software, to three sites. In addition to KidsVoice (PA) new multidisciplinary model offices have been created in Connecticut, and similar work is underway within a Louisiana state mental health advocacy agency.
Scott Hollander, J.D.
2. Preventing Racial Disparities Through Courts Catalyzing Change
This session will describe work that been done for the past year with a group of judges, which includes creation of a National Agenda and implementation through the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Victims Act Model Courts Project. Their special bench card and other tools for judges to use will include questions and suggestions to ensure that disproportionality and disparities are identified and rectified at the very earliest stages.
Judge Katherine Delgado; Judge Nan Waller
3. Improving Foster Care Outcomes Through Impact Litigation and Using Class Actions to Enhance Care and Services to Delinquent Youth
Part 1 will describe advocacy that can be achieved through partnerships with outside attorneys on pro bono impact litigation, specifically, the cooperation and strategies used by an advocacy program and law firm to secure higher foster care maintenance payment rates for individual families providing homes for foster youth. Part 2 will review the history of a D.C. case related to conditions and programs in the juvenile justice system, specifically, recent steps taken to internally monitor compliance with an outcome-based court-approved workplan. It will highlight development of a continuous quality improvement process. The session will also describe how moving from strict compliance to quality assurance has assisted positive change in the lives of at risk youth.
Ed Howard, J.D.; Kim VanVoorhis, J.D.; Marc Shindler, J.D.; Bernice Butler
4. Family Liberty and Child Protection: What We Can Learn from the Texas FLDS Case
A look at recent cases, such as the FLDS case in Texas and others, and review of recent constitutional cases on the legal test for child removal, tied in with our field’s concerns about better decision-making. Better decisions can help mitigate both over-inclusion of children in the system, a factor in racial disparities, and under-inclusion (represented by tragic cases that CPS misses or fails to follow-up on), and how these decisions affect the liberty interests of parents will be explored.
Prof. Don Duquette
5.
Making Room for a Child Victim’s Attorney in Criminal and Delinquency Proceedings
Each year, close to a million children are subjects of child abuse or neglect reports substantiated, indicated, or assessed to have occurred, or at risk of occurrence. Many of these cases are prosecuted in criminal courts, along with cases of gang violence, child sexual abuse, and other crimes that impact children. While children are generally appointed attorneys to represent them in their abuse and neglect cases, the same children are left without counsel to protect their legal rights as victims and witnesses in criminal and delinquency courts. This workshop will discuss ways these children are legally vulnerable in criminal and delinquency court, how attorneys can be appointed for them, ways attorneys can advocate for these child clients, and a 2009 ABA Resolution on the subject.
Prof. Wendy Seiden
3:15 − 3:30 p.m. Break
3:30 − 5:00 p.m. Workshop Session Group G
1. Integrating Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Practices and Policies
It is not uncommon for youth advocates to have clients involved in both these systems, or to have a client “cross over” from one system to another. Some services for youth may be only accessible through one of these “gates”, but changes in practice throughout the country will be discussed that are helping integrate, holistically, the aid young people need regardless of “gateway” issues. Title IV-E funding use for foster care placement of delinquents is another aspect of this that will be discussed.
Janet Wiig, J.D., M.S.W.; Howard Davidson, J.D.
2. Creative Solutions for Teen Clients in State Care
This session will examine creative solutions for teens in permanent care: returning to a previously terminated parent, staying in care, but visiting with a biological parent so that the youth can receive benefits, reaching out to other relatives, asking the court to order a placement that the State cannot or will not approve, and looking at legislation to require the child welfare agency to look for permanent placement, including terminated parents, if a child has not been adopted within a certain period of time.
Leslie Strauch, J.D.; Lori K. Duke, J.D.
3. Measuring Child Clients’ Satisfaction With Their Legal Advocacy
This session is based on results of a qualitative research study randomly interviewing 39 youth about their advocacy services. This offers a glimpse into the perspectives of children and youth on child representation, and this session will also explore whether representation program values align with what youth want from their advocates. Finally, this session will provide an overview of a unique model of child representation in Alberta, Canada, providing advocacy services to children and youth.
Jonathan Carlzon, J.D.; Arlene Eaton-Erickson
4. Research Findings on Child/Youth Trauma: What Advocates Need to Know
Children and adolescents experience trauma under two different sets of circumstances. Some types of traumatic events involve experiencing a serious injury or witnessing a serious injury to or the death of someone else, facing imminent threats of serious injury or death to oneself or others, or experiencing a violation of personal physical integrity. Child traumatic stress occurs when children and adolescents are exposed to traumatic events or traumatic situations, and when this exposure overwhelms their ability to cope with what they have experienced. This session will provide key information to lawyers and other advocates on how those working within the child welfare and juvenile justice system can use the latest knowledge on trauma to best aid vulnerable young clients.
Presenter to be listed shortly
5.
Child Fatalities: How Their Review Can Lead to Policy Changes That Benefit Children
Child abuse fatalities often generate considerable (although often short-lived) media attention. They also may be a catalyst for change - sometimes ill-informed - in law or policy. Although federal law (CAPTA) requires public disclosures of information relating to a child’s death from abuse, state disclosure policies and practices vary widely. This session will explore findings following an expansion of public disclosures in two states, describing how those changes can foster public discourse and policy changes to benefit all children in child protective services and foster care systems.
William Grimm, J.D.; Mary Meinig, M.S.W.

Related posts:

1. State Legislator Proposes Replacing Negative Identifiers of Children with Positive Ones: ‘At Risk’ becomes ‘Children of Hope’ Washington State Senator Rosa Franklin has proposed legislation that would...
2. Children and Disasters: How to Help Children in Haiti We’ve been watching news reports detailing the catastrophic damage in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.