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.

Center News

Kin Licensing Implementation Tool

This tool provides five steps to support title IV-E agencies and collaborative partners in the implementation of the federal rule allowing for kin-specific foster care licensing. It includes an overview of federal foster home licensing requirements, how to analyze jurisdictional needs, tips on collaboration, and a guidance on evaluating progress. (1/14/2025)

Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval: Recommended Standards of National Organizations

These recommended standards have been shared to assist states in adopting the new federal rule encouraging title IV-E agencies to adopt kin friendly licensing standards. To date 3 tribes and 6 states that have gone live with approved IV-E plans for kin-specific licensing/approval. (8/19/2024)

Survey and Focus Group Analysis of Attorneys Who Represent a Child Welfare Agency

This analysis includes insights into the landscape of resources and support that are available to attorneys who represent the child welfare agency throughout the United States. (3/26/24)

Immigration Referral Tool for Child Welfare Attorneys

This tool is designed to help attorneys working with children who are in foster care to identify whether a child may benefit from the services of an immigration attorney. (3/12/24)

New Resource: Barrier Crimes and Foster Licensing Memo

This document provides guidance for jurisdictions on how different states approach the process of criminal background checks, barrier crimes, and foster care licensing. (2/9/24)

What Draws Legal Professionals to Child Welfare Practice: Questions to Inform Attorney Retention and Recruitment Strategies

This discussion guide provides strategies and questions to aid attorney retention and recruitment in the child welfare law field. (1/17/24)

Report on 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. (1/14/2025)

ABA Summary of ACF Final Rule: Foster Care Legal Representation

On May 10th, 2024 the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) published the final rule for Foster Care Legal Representation. Read the Center on Children and the Law's summary of that final rule. (6/25/24)

Immigration Referral Tool for Caseworkers

This tool is designed to help caseworkers working with children who are in foster care to identify whether a child may benefit from the services of an immigration attorney. (3/12/24)

Nicholson’s Four Factors for Judicial Consideration in Cases Involving Domestic Violence and Children

Twenty years after the seminal decision, we partnered with Sharwline Nicholson, Futures Without Violence, and the National Center to Advance Peace for Children, Youth, and Families to examine how the Nicholson legal framework has shaped child welfare law and to identify what attorneys and judges can do to help realize the original goal of the case by preventing the harm of removal. (3/12/24)

Kinship Unity Action Agenda

Generations United, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and Think of Us released Kinship Unity Action Agenda - a collective advocacy tool to guide the future work to support kinship families and teach individuals how they can take action and advocate to support the well-being of kinship families. (2/8/24)