Center on Children and the Law

The Center promotes access to justice for children 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.

Center News

Interdisciplinary Parent Representation Webinar

On May 21, 2020, the National Alliance for Parent Representation hosted the webinar "Interdisciplinary Parent Representation: Bringing Hope to Families During the Pandemic and Beyond." Over 350 live participants joined.

New Family Justice Talk

Christopher Church, JD, USC School of Law, discusses trends in removals of children from their parents by the child welfare system. He shares steps professionals can take to make sound removal decisions and create a just child welfare system.

Foster Care as Support to Families

The Children's Bureau released a new Information Memorandum in April 2020 highlighting the importance of foster care as a support to families working towards safe and successful reunification. The IM calls for communities to build and support relationships between resource families and parents as a way to engage parents and build their protective capacity, promote timely reunification, and strengthen child and family well-being.

Dependency Court Response to COVID-19

The U.S. Children's Bureau has written a letter urging Chief Justices and State Court Administrators to engage with Court Improvement Programs (CIPs) in assisting dependency courts to respond to COVID-19.

Conducting Effective Remote Court Hearings

The Capacity Building Center for Courts has prepared a guide for court professionals that distills best practices and other recommendations for conducting effective remote or “virtual” hearings.

Adolescent Brain Science Webinar

Listen to a recording of this free webinar on how attorneys and judges can understand and apply adolescent brain science in child welfare cases.

Tool for Engaging the Legal Community in Implementing Family First

This tool lays the groundwork for state and local child welfare agencies to partner with the legal community to implement the Family First Prevention Services Act. This includes identifying and addressing the Act’s potential legal implications. The goal of the tool is to facilitate conversations and collaboration with the legal community to maximize the legislation’s positive impact for children and families.

Reasonable and Active Efforts, and Substance Use Disorders

This new toolkit developed by the National Quality Improvement Center for Collaborative Community Court Teams helps address some of the challenges presented in making reasonable and active efforts and related judicial findings in cases involving substance use.

ABA Urges Emergency Funding for CIP Programs

The ABA President has sent a letter to Congress seeking emergency funding for the Court Improvement Program to help dependency courts in 3 areas: (1) technology investments to transition to remote hearings; (2) training for judges, attorneys, and caseworkers on conducting remote hearings that comply with due process and meet congressionally mandated requirements; and (3) innovative programs to help families address aspects of the case plan that prevent delays in the legal proceedings.

Webinar Recording: COVID-19 and Child Welfare Cases

In coordination with the U.S. Children’s Bureau, the Center helped host a webinar on COVID-19 and Child Welfare Cases. The webinar highlights the federal government's recent guidance on emerging legal issues in child welfare cases and helps attorneys and judges apply that guidance in case-by-case decision making.

Nominate a Reunification Hero

We are seeking nominations for 2020 National Reunification Month heroes. Nominate parents, professionals, and youth who demonstrate compassion and perseverance to keep families together. Nominations due May 8, 2020.

Federal Guidance for Child Welfare Legal Community on Covid-19

The U.S. Children's Bureau released a letter for child welfare legal and judicial leaders on Friday, March 27 addressing priority court hearings, parent-child visitation and family time, access to services, and compelling reasons to refrain from filing a TPR petition after a child has been in care for 15 months.

New Toolkit: Using Adolescent Brain Research to Engage Youth

This new toolkit shares the latest adolescent brain science and explains how to use it to engage youth in their court hearings and case planning.

Recent Center News & Resources

Access previously published Center news.

New Kinship Brief on FFPSA and Title IV-E GAP

This new brief by the Grandfamilies Project highlights provisions in the Family First Prevention Services Act related to kinship families and federal Title IV-E GAP (GAP). It suggests how states and eligible tribes can build on these provisions to promote use of assisted guardianship for children in kinship foster care.