Listserv
Network with parent attorneys across the country. Share ideas on cases, tools and strategies, and creative ideas for improving practice. Members want to know your challenges and success stories. Please join us.
Standards of Practice
National:
State:
- Superior Court of the District of Columbia Child Abuse and Neglect Attorney Practice Standards
- Iowa Standards of Practice for Attorneys Representing Parents in Juvenile Court
- North Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense Services Performance Guidelines for Attorneys Representing Indigent Parent Respondents
- Massachusetts Appellate Performance Standards for Parents' and Children's Attorneys
- Standards of Practice for Parent Attorneys, Guardians ad Litem & Legal Counsel Practicing in Pennsylvania's Child Dependency System
- Washington State Parents Representation Program Standards for Attorneys
- Wyoming Parent Attorney Guidelines
Books
- Representing Parents in Child Welfare Cases: Advice and Guidance for Family Defenders
- Representing Parents in Child Welfare Cases: A Basic Introduction for Attorneys
- Indicators of Success for Parent Representation
Evaluations of Legal Representation for Parents
- Providing Parents Multidisciplinary Legal Representation Significantly Reduces Children's Time in Foster Care
- Legal Representation for Parents in Child Welfare Proceedings: A performance-based analysis of Michigan practice
- Legal Representation for Parents in Child Welfare Proceedings: An analysis of Wyoming practice
- Legal Representation for Parents in Child Welfare Proceedings: A performance-based analysis of North Carolina practice
Parent Guides
Parent Know Your Rights Guides
Videos & Webinars
2021 National Parent Represenatation Conference Virtual Convening
Video presentations from the 2021 national conference.
High Quality Family Defense in the Time of COVID
In this webinar for New Jersey parent advocates, held September 3, 2020, Kathleen Creamer, April Lee, and Saadiqa Kumanyika from Community Legal Services in Philadelphia share challenges during the pandemic and strategies for addressing them on a systemic level and in individual client cases.
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." A recording of the webinar is now available.
Why Quality Legal Representation Matters for Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders
Webinar presentation exploring 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.
Video links from Legal Services of New Jersey including policy, press, and client stories.
This film from Mississippi gives a national perspective on representing parents in the child welfare system.
Articles/Reports
Parent Representation Generally
- Iowa Legal Aid Parent Representation Project (overview of multidisciplinary team approach to help families involved in the child welfare system)
- Providing Parents Multidisciplinary Legal Representation Significantly Reduces Children's Time in Foster Care
- Parent Representation Articles from 2017 Parent Representation Conference
- Promoting Quality Parent Representation through Standards of Practice
- Cornerstone Advocacy in the First 60 Days: Achieving Safe and Lasting Reunification for Families
- Tools for Evaluating Parent Attorney Performance
- A Cut Above: What Makes a Parent Attorney Great
- A Family-Centered Model of Legal Representation For Parents in Child Protection Cases
- Engaging Parents as a Path to Reunification: Surfacing Values and Dismantling Assumptions
- Representing Parents Effectively Post-ASFA
- Procedural Injustice: How the Practices and Procedures of the Child Welfare System Disempower Parents and Why It Matters
- Summaries of Parent Representation Models
Advocacy and Reform
- An Agenda for Action: A Blueprint for Parent Advocacy and Family-centered Child Welfare Reform
- Commission on Parental Legal Representation, Interim Report to Chief Judge DiFiore
- Influencing and Challenging Judges and Their Decisions in Child Welfare Cases
Disproportionality
- Race and Poverty Bias in the Child Welfare System: Strategies for Child Welfare Practitioners
- Racial Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Reversing Trends
Foster Care Risks
Incarcerated Parents
- Incarcerated Parents: What You Should Know When Handling an Abuse or Neglect Case
- Children of Incarcerated Parents
Nonoffending Parents
- The Crab Fisherman and Children: A Constitutional Compass For the Nonoffending Parent in Child Protection Cases
- Out of State and Out of Luck: The Treatment of Non-Custodial Parents Under the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
- But I Didn't Do Anything Wrong: Revisiting the Rights of Non-Offending Parents in Child Protection Proceedings
Parent Partner Programs
- From the Courthouse to the Statehouse: Parents as Partners in Child Welfare
- Working with Parent Partners to Achieve Better Case Outcomes for Families
- From Parent in Crisis to Parent Partner – Nancy Colon’s Story
Parent Social Workers
- Parents’ Social Workers Help Parents Succeed
- Washington State Office of Public Defense, Parent Representation Program: Social Worker Practice Standards
Parent Visitation
- Fact Sheet – The Impact of Visiting
- Practice and Policy Brief: Visitation with Infants and Toddlers in Foster Care
Pregnant and Parenting Teens
- Advocacy for Young or Expectant Parents in Foster Care
- When the Child is a Parent: Effective Advocacy for Teen Parents in the Child Welfare System
- Fostering Motherhood: Remedying Violations of Minor Parents’ Right to Family Integrity
Reinstatement of Parental Rights
- A Second Chance for Children and Families: Why States Should Allow for Reinstatement of Parental Rights After Termination
- Resurrecting Parents of Legal Orphans: Un-Terminating Parental Rights
- Restoring Parental Rights: Giving Legal Orphans a Chance at a Family