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

A Conversation about the Manifestation of White Supremacy in the Institution of Child Welfare

In this webinar, speakers from across the country discuss the impact of racism and white supremacy in child welfare policies and practices. The panel defines terms, provides historical context for the systemic destabilization of families, and lays the framework for a second level of continued discussion about what child welfare advocates can do to contribute to true community and family well-being and success.

Multidisciplinary Representation and its Positive Impact on Reunification

This webinar recording highlights the benefits multidisciplinary legal teams, explains the Children’s Bureau recent decision to invest federal IV-E dollars in the multidisciplinary legal representation model for parents and children, shares a 2019 study on this model, and explains how this model supports child welfare agencies and most importantly, children and their parents.

Reflections on 10 Years of National Reunification Month

Mimi Laver shares three key themes that have emerged over the last 10 years of celebrating National Reunification Month.

Webinar: Why Quality Legal Representation Matters for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders

In this recent webinar, Center attorney Mimi Laver joins a panel to explore the attributes of quality legal representation for parents involved in child welfare proceedings. It focuses on the parent attorney's role to ensure reasonable efforts are made on behalf of families affected by substance use disorders to access quality services to prevent removal and support timely reunification and permanency.

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.

Five Ways Attorneys Can Use Adolescent Brain Science to Guide Their Advocacy

In this new article, Center attorney Sneha Barve highlights 5 ways legal advocates can use adolescent brain science to promote positive experiences and outcomes for youth involved in the child welfare system.

Effects of Attorney Funding on Representation Quality for Children and Parents

This new assessment looks at the impact of funding changes on quality legal representation of children and parents in California child welfare cases.

Family Justice Talk: After Safety: The Next Step to Success

Judge William Thorne (ret.) discusses the need to go beyond safety for families and how judges and lawyers in the child welfare system can help them heal, build resilience, promote good experiences, and form connections and meaningful relationships.

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.

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.

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.

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.