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.

2024 Conference Request for Proposals

Access to Justice Conference RFP

The Center is now inviting lawyers and nonlawyers to submit proposals for the ABA Access to Justice Conference. Proposals are due Oct. 18, 2023.

National Parent Representation Conference RFP

Proposals are now being accepted for the National Conference on Parent Representation. Priority will be given to sessions led by individuals who have been impacted by the child welfare system as youth, parents, and/or kin. Proposals are due Oct. 18, 2023.

Center News

ABA Journal Highlights Kinship Care

Two ABA Journal articles focus on two kinship care trends: "shadow foster care" and growing support among advocates of the use kinship caregivers in child welfare cases. (8/4/23)

Celebrating Family Preservation and Reunification

Visit the National Reunification Month web page for tools, events, reunification hero profiles and other great resources to support reunification for children and families in the child welfare system. (7/11/23)

Kinship Assessment Tool

The Center and Generations United, in partnership with Casey Family Programs, have created this practical kinship assessment tool with resource links to support the array of child welfare agencies—from those embarking on a kin-first journey to those continuously striving for quality improvement. (6/30/23)

Using the Family First Prevention Services Act to Strengthen Reasonable Efforts Determinations

This alert highlights how judges can use the Family First Act to strengthen reasonable efforts determinations in child welfare cases. (6/27/23)

Why Celebrating Reunification Month Matters

This article highlights the importance of celebrating parents and maintaining families. It reminds that "[t]his month is meant to be a social justice call to advocates – a time to highlight the importance that families receive due process, protection of parental constitutional rights and that parental voices are integrated in every decision-making moment..." (6/27/23)

Video Recording Available: What Child Welfare Agencies Can Do to Support Reunification Webinar

This webinar, held June 7, 2023, explores the role of child welfare agencies in supporting the connection between resource/foster caregivers and parents whose children are in foster care. It offers concrete ways child welfare agencies can be a partner in supporting reunification through this relationship and other practices. (6/9/23)

National Reunification Month Virtual Background

Download one of our National Reunification Month Virtual Backgrounds. Help promote family reunification during the month of June!

Proposed Rule on Licensing Kin Caregivers

The ABA is proud to support the Administration’s proposed rule change providing states and tribes with an option of using separate standards for licensing kin caregivers while ensuring they receive the same rate of support when caring for children in foster care. Learn more about the ABA’s recommended clarifications for the final rule. (4/19/23)

Introducing JCAMP: A New Tool to Measure Your Court Performance

This judge's action alert highlights how judges can use the Judicial, Court, and Attorney Measures of Performance (JCAMP), a new tool for measuring court practices and performance in child welfare dependency courts. (6/27/23)

Kinship Promising Practices

To help jurisdictions successfully implement a kin-first culture shift, national kinship technical assistance partners have gathered promising kinship practices from across the country. This brief shares kinship practice examples, organized by six main topics, to help jurisdictions change policy and practice to promote kin placement and permanency. (11.22.22)

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

The Capacity Building Center for Courts has developed a set of child welfare court, judicial, and attorney performance measures to help the field understand and improve child welfare court practice. (10/12/22)

Introducing the Reasonable Efforts Findings Study

This one-page overview highlights a new research study, the Reasonable Efforts Findings Study (REFS), which is exploring how judges’ reasonable efforts decisions in child welfare cases relate to case outcomes for children. (10/6/22)

Judges’ Roles in Promoting Youth-Centered Legal Permanency

This judge’s action alert highlights how legal permanency options for youth are changing to be more youth-centered, and explains how judges can support youth-centered legal permanency by partnering with youth and meaningfully engaging them in placement decisions. (10/12/22)