• Evaluation of the Washington State Dependent Child Legal Representation Program (2021)
• Examining the Legal Representation of Youth in Foster Care: Perspectives of Attorneys and Attorney Guardians Ad Litem (2020)
• Examining legal representation for foster youth: Perspectives of foster parents (2019) 
• Conceptualizing effective legal representation for Foster youth: A group concept mapping study (2018)
• Exploring the legal representation of individuals in foster care: What say youth and alumni? (2017)
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System (QIC-ChildRep) Summary (2020)
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System Research Summary (2016)
• Measuring the Impact of Children’s Right to Counsel (2016)
• Chapin Hall: Expediting Permanency: Legal Representation for Foster Children in Palm Beach County (2008)
• National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System (QIC-ChildRep) 

• NACC Recommendations for Legal Representation of Children and Youth in Neglect and Abuse Proceedings
• NACC-Endorsed Standards of Practice and ABA Model Act
• Family Justice Initiative
• NACC Infographic on the Right to Counsel for Children in Dependency Cases
• “Using Preventive Legal Advocacy to Keep Children from Entering Foster Care”

• Children’s Bureau Information Memorandum 19-03: “Engaging, Empowering, and Utilizing Family and Youth Voice”
• Children’s Bureau Information Memorandum 17-02: “High Quality Legal Representation for All Parties in Child Welfare Proceedings”
• Children’s Bureau Express Spotlight on High-Quality Legal Representation
• How Attorneys and Judges Help Strengthen Families (NACC’s “The Guardian”)
• White House Executive Order on Strengthening the Child Welfare System for America’s Children

How to Improve Legal Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System

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From 2009 to 2016 the University of Michigan Law School served as the National Quality Improvement Center on the Representation of Children in the Child Welfare System (QIC-ChildRep). This seven-year, multimillion dollar project, directed by Clinical Professor Don Duquette, conducted a national needs assessment that identified a substantial consensus on the role and duties of the child’s lawyer. The needs assessment led to the QIC-ChildRep Best Practice Model, an update and expansion of the 1996 ABA Standards for Lawyers Representing Children in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases. Released in 2016 as a 300-page softcover book, CHILDREN’S JUSTICE is the final report of the QIC-ChildRep project.

Authors: Donald N. Duquette, Britany Orlebeke, Andrew Zinn, Robbin Pott, Ada Skyles, Xiaomeng Zhou

• Family Justice Initiative Research Page
• Well-Being in Action: Expanding Equitable Access to Comprehensive Supports for Foster Youth – Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (2022)
• Effects of Funding Changes on Legal Representation Quality in California Dependency Cases (2020)
• NLADA and the Justice in Government Project: Civil Legal Aid Helps Children in Foster Care and Their Parents
• The Justice in Government Project: Key Studies on How Legal Aid Assists Children in Foster Care
• NLADA and the Justice in Government Project: Just Research Special Topic: Foster Care
• A Child’s Right to Counsel: National Report on Legal Representation for Abused and Neglected Children (4th Edition)
• NACC Study: Evaluation of Guardian Ad Litem System in Nebraska
• Expert Report of Donald Duquette
• NACC Infographic on the Right to Counsel for Children
• The Road from Attorney Panel to State-Run Program – Wyoming’s GAL Program History
• Case Study: Changing Lives through the Creation of a New Program – The Children’s Attorneys Project (MIE, 2018)
• “From Passenger to Pilot” – video by the Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency and Spaulding for Children
• State Utilization of Title IV-E Funding to Support High-Quality Legal Representation