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Center on Children and the Law

The Center promotes access to justice for children, parents, and families. Our team of attorneys and core staff work on a diverse portfolio of national, regional and local projects in the children’s law field throughout the country. Center projects are unified by two complementary goals: improving legal representation and improving the legal systems that impact children and families.

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Please fill out this form. Indicate if you wish to sign up for our mailing list, or type your question/request in the space provided. Please note that the Center does not provide direct legal representation and is unable to give legal advice.

Check out the ABA Center on Children and the Law’s Spring and Summer internship opportunities

The ABA Center on Children and the Law is currently seeking interns for spring and summer 2025. We accept applications on a rolling basis, but we will begin interviewing in early January so applications received before that point will be prioritized.

Let's Celebrate Unified Families All Year Long!

As part of the ABA Center on Children and the Law's focus on family unity, we celebrate not just the families who have been able to reunify, but also the importance of preventing removals and separations whenever possible and keeping families intact through advocacy, supports and services. Celebrating family unification means honoring parents and their communities of support who fight tirelessly every day to keep their families intact. Family Unification Heroes will be honored on an ongoing basis, to reflect the daily courage, strength and commitment of families to stay together.

New Report Alert: Learn about State Utilization of Title IV-E Funding To Support High-Quality Legal Representation

During the summer of 2024, national organizations partnered to better understand how this opportunity is being leveraged. A voluntary survey was shared broadly with state Court Improvement Programs, child welfare agencies, and legal advocates. We sought to understand how many states have tapped into this resource, their strategies for success, and the challenges they have faced. This report captures the results of that survey and identifies some themes and trends.

A Way Forward Series

The National Alliance of Parent Representation, a multidisciplinary parent representation steering committee within the Center, has started a new series titled " A Way Forward” . The hope of this series is to introduce national practices, programs and ideas that have lifted up and utilized family voice effectively in varied ways to better improve legal advocacy. Learn more about this new series and the Center’s upcoming webinar on the African American Family Preservation Act: How History was made in Minnesota

National Multidisciplinary Parent Representation Conference

The Center and the Institute to Transform Child Protection are pleased to be holding the third National Multidisciplinary Parent Representation Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, on May 1-2, 2025.

Center News

Judicial, Court, and Attorney Measures of Performance (JCAMP)

In 2021, the Children’s Bureau funded the Capacity Building Center for Courts (CBCC) to develop a set of child welfare court, judicial, and attorney performance measures to help the field understand and improve child welfare court practice.

Court Improvement Program (CIP) Talks

CIP Talks are short video speeches by leading legal and child welfare experts highlighting how the legal community can work with partners to better serve vulnerable families and improve child welfare outcomes. The CIP Talks were produced by the Capacity Building Center for Courts in collaboration with the Children's Bureau.

Family First Act Resources and Tools

Access our resources on implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Legal Representation Infographic

Our 2-page infographic explains the importance of high-quality legal representation for children, parents, and child welfare agencies in child welfare proceedings.

Download - Infographic

Project Areas

Center projects focus on strengthening courts, legal representation, and state and local systems. Topics include child welfare and intersecting issues: permanency, education, immigration, kin and relative care, and health.

See our - Project Areas

Training and Technical Assistance

The Center is a full-service training and technical assistance provider on a variety of child welfare legal-related topics.