Executive Summary of Initial Outcome Evaluation of NACC’s Counsel for Kids Campaign by Sarah Bryer Consulting In the spring of 2021, the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) launched a state-based “Counsel for Kids Campaign” (Campaign) to ensure the right to counsel for every child in the child welfare system. The Campaign incorporated twin […]

Momentum is building around the country to ensure counsel for kids experiencing the child protection system. Florida Senate Bill 488 would expand the categories of dependent children who are entitled to counsel and require the state agency to work directly with the Justice Administrative Commission to obtain Title IV-E funds for children’s legal representation. The bill […]

“Every child in every family in every community deserves the chance to thrive. Often the best way to help a child is to make sure children and their families are supported and have access to high-quality legal representation in court-involved child welfare cases….” Read more in the Tulsa World.

The Montana legislature supported several pieces of legislation to reform the child protection system, including one that would eventually mandate that children be represented in court by an attorney. Read more from Montana Free Press.

Earlier this week, CBS Sunday Morning news shared the experiences of Vanessa Peoples, Samantha Mungai, and their respective families, with the child protection system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSC1IKHrKt4  The report underscored racial and economic injustice in the system and the impossible choices families often face. It also grappled with the fact that family separation often harms children.  The […]

Ashley Chase, a Representative at the Office of The Child’s Representative in Denver Colorado, speaks with Jon Caldara of Independence Institute to discuss a new bill in the Colorado Legislature.

The momentum around Counsel for Kids (C4K) continued to grow during the 2022 legislative session, thanks to strong legislative champions and lived experience experts.   Dedicated policy advocates buoyed C4K Campaign efforts in Colorado and Indiana this year.  In each state, diverse coalitions of youth with lived experience in the child protection system, attorneys, foster parents, […]

Alaska foster youth will soon have more of a say in what happens with their cases.  In early April, the Alaska Supreme Court passed Order No. 1979, which amends court rules to allow foster youth the ability to attend hearings and have court-appointed attorneys argue their own wishes in their cases…. Under the new order, youth in […]