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The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project

About the Bar-Youth Empowerment Project

In January 2008, the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law and Youth at Risk Commission, in partnership with Casey Family Programs and the Eckerd Family Foundation, started the Bar-Youth Empowerment Project. The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project aims to improve outcomes for youth currently in foster care as well as young people who have aged out of care by promoting youth participation in court cases that affect them and offering access to legal counseling and representation to youth in need of specialized legal assistance.

The Project has three primary goals:

1) Every state and territory must provide legal representation to youth in foster care;
2) Youth voices must always be effectively heard in court; and
3) Former foster youth must have access to basic legal advice.

For more information, please click Project Activities, Staff, Partners and Collaborators.

What's New

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project has developed a white paper, A LAWYER FOR EVERY CHILD: CLIENT-DIRECTED REPRESENTATION IN DEPENDENCY CASES, which has been published in the Hofstra Law School Family Court Review in October 2009. This paper argues that children have a constitutional right to counsel in dependency cases and reviews federal and state legislation, court decisions, and public policy arguments that support this right. It also advocates for a traditional, client-directed model of representation and discusses the impact of high caseloads and lack of training on attorney performance. It is designed for policymakers, advocates, legislators, lawyers and judges to evaluate whether their communities are adequately and effectively representing children in dependency cases.

To download the Executive Summary, please click here and to download the White Paper Article, click here.

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project, building off the work of Theresa Hughes of St. John Law School in 2007, examined every state dependency statute and court rule to determine whether a child

1) is considered a party,
2) is entitled to notice of proceedings, and
3) has a right to be present during proceedings.

Furthermore, we requested feedback from the every state’s Court Improvement Project (CIP). Our goal is to keep this chart up-to-date and accurate, so we encourage you to contact us if you have changes or additions for your jurisdiction. Please feel free to share this State by State Youth in Court break down with fellow advocates.

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project, in partnership with Florida’s Children First, has developed guide, “On Your Own, But Not Alone: A Handbook to Empower Florida Foster Youth Leaving Foster Care.” The handbook is designed to assist youth with the transition to adulthood, and includes information about pursuing education, securing housing, finding a job, managing a budget, and much more.

To download the handbook, please click here.

Click here for archived infromation.

Youth Involvement in Court

The Bar-Youth Empowerment has developed many materials to support attorneys, judges, CASAs, GALs and other stakeholders with meaningfully and appropriately involving youth in their court hearings and case planning.

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project has developed a formal Training and Technical Assistance Package that includes a number of helpful materials for lawyers and judges. For more information, and to access the materials, please click here.

Right to Counsel

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project aims to ensure that all children and youth in foster care have an attorney to represent them in their abuse, neglect and dependency proceeding. Please click here for a variety of resources on this topic. If you have materials or resources to add, please email kellyk@staff.abanet.org.

Fostering Connections

On October 7, 2008, President Bush signed the “Fostering Connections to Success” Act, H.R. 6893 (now P.L. 110-351), into law. As a result of this law, states will have the opportunity to obtain federal funds for support of youth in foster care beyond age 18. In the wake of the Federal Fostering Connections to Success Act, the Bar-Youth Empowerment Project and others emailed a number of national child welfare listservs (including the Court Improvement Project listserv, the ABA child-court listserv, and other national groups) asking states to identify recent bills introduced since enactment of P.L. 110-351 that would extend support for foster youth in that state beyond age 18.

The attached chart summarizes key information obtained in regard to states that introduced. Anyone with information on states not listed on the chart that have introduced legislation in the wake of the Fostering Connections to Success Act to extend support for foster youth beyond age 18 should email that information to: kellyk@staff.abanet.org.

The ABA Center on Children and the Law and the Bar-Youth Empowerment Project intends to engage in ongoing efforts to update this chart and provide further information relating to work around the country on the Fostering Connections to Success Act.

The Bar-Youth Empowerment project participated in a workgroup organized by the National Foster Care Coalition (NFCC) that developed a Frequently Asked Questions publication related to the older youth provisions of the newly enacted Fostering Connections Act. This publication includes sections related to education, extension of care beyond age 18, court process, and youth engagement, among others.

Please click here to access the document.