Monday, November 1, 2021, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT

Melissa Carter, Clinical Professor of Law, Executive Director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center

“Upstream:  Legal Advocacy to Promote Family Integrity”

Two decades of research documenting the effects of adverse childhood experiences and mounting evidence that removal and the experience of foster care can cause acute and enduring trauma have helped to broaden thinking about the relationship between the legal duty to protect children and the moral responsibility to promote their well-being. Recently enacted federal policies have imposed mandates and unlocked resources to prevent the unnecessary separation of families, reduce socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities in the child welfare system, and afford a greater measure of justice for children and parents. As child welfare system stakeholders coalesce around a prevention agenda, the role and responsibility of the legal and judicial community in achieving the outcomes of safety, permanency, and well-being for children must be redefined. One promising opportunity for system improvement has captured the full attention of judges, lawyers, and agency administrators throughout the country – the use of lawyers as an “upstream” intervention to address the social determinants of health that create vulnerabilities within families.

Melissa Carter will explain this emerging model of preventive legal advocacy and share research, data, and program models demonstrating how lawyers can prevent the need for children to enter foster care by addressing the poverty-related needs of families.