The Children’s Rights Litigation Committee (formerly the Task Force on Children) was created by the Section of Litigation to address the vast underrepresentation of children in all aspects of the legal system. The Committee endeavors to increase the number of children’s legal projects and pro bono attorneys to represent children, along with providing training materials and programs in order to assist advocates in providing the highest quality of representation for children.

The Committee has the unique ability to help local groups who are interested in starting or improving children’s legal programs. We have a working group of nationally known children’s law practitioners who can assist groups interested in starting children’s law projects by providing organizational materials that serve as a blueprint for establishing the program and by providing the expertise of members to assist the groups in designing their plans to meet the specific needs of children in their communities.

Additionally, the Committee provides assistance in the recruitment and training of volunteers, including:

1. Helping projects share training materials.
2. Providing experts for training when possible.
3. Assisting projects’ outreach to potential volunteers through customized direct mailings (sorting the ABA membership list by zip code and practice area) and by publicizing trainings in ABA publications.
4. Recruiting volunteer attorneys at ABA conferences.

The Children’s Rights Litigation Committee sponsors programs at the Section's Annual and ABA Annual and Midyear Meetings to train attorneys in the representation of children and to disseminate information about the plight of children in the legal system. The Children’s Rights Litigation Committee also publishes a Directory of Pro Bono Children's Law Programs [PDF], presently in its fourth edition, which is a compilation of children’s law programs across the country.

If you have or know of a resource that would assist other children’s lawyers providing representation in education, immigration, delinquency, or child welfare matters, please consider sharing the resource through the committee’s website.

Looking for a lawyer for a child? Our committee cannot provide legal advice or referrals to lawyers, but findlegalhelp.org may put you in touch with a lawyer who may be able to assist you. Click here for more information.

On July 9–15, 2010, in Washington, D.C., the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute will hold its Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare: Multi-System Integration Certificate Program for Public Sector Leaders.

A law review article on the topic of wrongful death of children in foster care has just been published. The article is a survey of wrongful death cases in various states involving the death of children in foster care and the challenges faced when bringing such claims. The article is coauthored by Daniel Pollack, Professor at the School of Social Work at Yeshiva University in New York City and Gary Popham Jr., an attorney in Arizona. For a PDF of the article, please contact Professor Pollack.

Several DLA Piper offices are engaged in Signature Projects. The Boston office handles Piper’s Education Rights Project, a signature pro bono project that assists low-income disabled children gain access to special education services.

Youths facing delinquency proceedings have the right to counsel and the role of the juvenile defender has evolved to require a complex and challenging skill set.

The Social Security Administration has issued a new POMS (sub-regulatory) policy. The policy recognizes that youth in foster care need income support and health services to ease the transition to independent living once they turn 18 years old. As a result, SSA may now accept an SSI application a month before the month of eligibility.

The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) challenges the systemic problem of pushout in our nation's schools and advocates for the human right of every child to a quality education and to be treated with dignity.

Zero-tolerance policies have caused an increase in the number of students being expelled from school for violations of disciplinary codes.

In Massachusetts, a federal court judge invalidates a zero-tolerance policy on constitutional grounds. This case is described in a Boston Globe op-ed, which also cites the ABA adoption of the resolution (from the Commission on Youth at Risk) containing the call to to reduce reliance on disciplinary exclusion.

On December 3, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released the National Resolution for Ending School Pushout, a call to action for our school systems to end the harsh disciplinary policies and law enforcement tactics that push too many young people out of school.

On October 13, Birmingham public schools adopted a new School Offense Protocol to prevent student arrests for minor offenses, such as fighting or being disruptive in class.

Strip search of 13-year-old student Ruled unreasonable and a violation of the student’s Fourth Amendment rights.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway released a publication entitled Court Hearings for the Permanent Placement of Children.

The Bar-Youth Empowerment Project has issued a state by state summary of youth involved in court.

In this recording of a teleconference, panelists discuss a right to counsel in education cases.

» Download the MP3 |  (15MB)