A CHILD'S RIGHT TO COUNSEL - Children's Advocacy Institute

Second Edition: A Child’s Right to Counsel —A National Report Card on Legal Representation for Abused & Neglected ChildrenCall to ActionWe have provided a thorough analysis of each state‘s laws regarding the representation of maltreatedchildren in dependency courts. A great deal of progress has been made in the last few years, but there is stillroom for improvement across the board. A major goal of this report is to present the Model Act as well asexamples from other states as tools for advocates to use as they engage in continued advocacy. The followingare examples of what needs to be done to improve representation for children.Federal Action‣ Amendment of CAPTA. Take an opportunity to encourage your legislators to amend CAPTA torequire that an independent, competent, and zealous attorney, trained in the multi-disciplinary aspectsof dependency practice, and with a reasonable caseload be appointed to represent the interests of allchildren in all stages of child abuse and neglect proceedings in a client-directed manner, and that allchildren be treated as parties to these proceedings with all the rights appurtenant thereto.‣ Student Loan Forgiveness. Encourage your legislative leaders to fully support student loanforgiveness for attorneys representing children in child abuse and neglect proceedings. There is a direlack of trained attorneys willing to work in this area of law and student loan forgiveness is one stepthat we can take to mitigate this problem.Adoption of ABA Model Law‣ Encourage your ABA delegate to support passage of the ABA Model Act Governing theRepresentation of Children in Dependency Proceedings when it is voted on.State Action‣ Amendment of State Statutes. Take an opportunity to encourage your state legislative leaders toadopt state legislation to require that an independent, competent, and zealous attorney, trained in themulti-disciplinary aspects of dependency practice, and with a reasonable caseload be appointed torepresent the interests of all children in all stages of child abuse and neglect proceedings in a clientdirectedmanner, and that all children be treated as parties to these proceedings with all the rightsappurtenant thereto. Work with your State‘s Court Improvement Project. Many of these projects aredoing great work – particularly in the area of multi-disciplinary training. Take this good work and helpto turn it into mandated state law.‣ Collaboration with Other States. This report highlights that while each state approaches the issue ofcounsel for children differently, many states are doing phenomenal work. Collaborate with similarlysituatedstates that have received positive scores. Talk with fellow advocates to see what practices canbe adopted and utilized in your home jurisdiction.‣ Right to Counsel for Abused and Neglected Children— Beyond Dependency. Maltreatedchildren are involved in a variety of court proceedings that impact their lives and futures. Some ofthese children may be involved in custody, immigration, and education cases in which their views anddesires are not represented by any of the parties. Like in dependency cases, these children areextremely vulnerable and deserve to have their voices heard and their rights protected when theirperspectives are not aligned with the parties charged with protecting them. Only through competentand properly trained legal representation can these voices be heard and considered by the judge.136 Second Edition: A CHILD‘S RIGHT TO COUNSEL