72. 2019, https://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=website.viewArticles&issueid=208ionid=2&articleid=5378. The prior quantitative and qualitative studies focused exclusively on outcomes of cases and on the views of professionals who see the work of the family defenders in family court. N.Y. Unified Ct. Sys. Richard LaFontaine. The notes of the interviews are on file with the author. Even though Ms. Green had completed all required services and her visitation rights had been substantially expanded, the agency was now arguing that this new injury proved that Ms. Green lacked the capacity to raise her child safely. Brooklyn Defender Services 177 Livingston St., 7th Fl. At the current time, BDS physical offices are open by appointment only. The goal was to secure evidence from an independent, well-respected therapist that Ms. Green possessed the temperament and capability of raising her child safely. Hum. That knowledge commonly results in the offices achieving better, faster results for their clients than the child welfare agency is capable of, with considerably less disruption of the family, eliminating or significantly shortening the time children are forced to live apart from their families. 63. What insights have they gained? Def., https://neighborhooddefender.org/services/family-defense/ (last visited Sept. 19, 2020). In these cases, the agency has never met the mother and is brought in to begin a fresh investigation. Popular Searches Brooklyn Defender Services Bds mediarequests@bds.org. Commn on Parental Legal Representation Pub. 14. 6, July/Aug. Instead, in New York City, the task was given to the Mayors Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, which had deep knowledge of the criminal justice system but no experience with the child welfare system. The teams successful representation of Mr. Sanchez began with a careful, nuanced interview with him allowing the social worker, who was fluent in Mr. Sanchezs native language, to grasp that he never was unalterably opposed to the surgery but merely wanted one more opportunity to see if it were preventable. [or] ensure that clients receive necessary services and prepare appropriate service plans . Once again, Ms. Barrows defense team went into action. Ms. Barrow and the defense team jointly developed a new plan for her that included referring her to a therapist, a psychiatrist who was able to prescribe new medication, and a medication management provider. This, in turn, most commonly means focusing on how parents have changed since the case began. Commn on Parental Legal Representation, Interim Report to Chief Judge DiFiore 1215 (2019). A goal of this Article is to lay the groundwork for leaders in child welfare throughout the United States to embrace the work new family defenders do.59 There are many ways to reform child welfare practice and policy in this country. BDS is a public defense office that represents low-income New Yorkers in criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal matters. of 12th graders in Family Foster Care graduated high . Part I provides a brief history of parental representation in New York. [Our lawyer] was a friend. See also Jason A. Oetjen, Natl Council of Juv. Martin Guggenheim is the Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law. 30+ days ago Full Time. See Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923); Pierce v. Socy of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944); Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972). 2022 American Bar Association, all rights reserved. Her defense team at first consisted of a family court lawyer and a social worker. Legal Services of New York was awarded the contract in Brooklyn. Get the inside scoop on jobs, salaries, top office locations, and CEO insights. And by so doing, these defenders improve child welfare practice for everyone: the agencies, the court, and, of course, the families who are brought into the system. Moreover, the amount of time the lawyer put on the case was a minor fraction of the time and attention the social worker gave the case. An X-ray revealed that Sophia sustained a skull fracture. 95. Agencies too often offer parents little help or guidance in obtaining services, commonly doing little more than providing a parent an address and expecting the parent to find the service, make the appointment, and wind his or her way through a maze of confusing requirements. 66. Admin. for Child. 20. Ms. Green was a single parent of an eight-month-old daughter, Sophia. The teams social workers attended many visits with Ms. Anderson and her daughter to ensure a member of the team was there to witness the successful interactions for reports back to the judge. Bronx Defenders began as an organization that only did criminal defense. Before she left, the defense teams social worker called the caseworkers supervisor requesting that she be permitted to remain in the conference because the x-ray results were due in another half hour. These lead to tragic outcomes, such as death at the hands of police or in jail and oppressive environments in schools and neighborhoods where low-income people of color live. In child welfare cases, victories often prove to be short-lived. 2 (updated July 2019), https://caseyfamilypro-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/media/SF_Quality-parent-representation_fnl.pdf; see also Martin Guggenheim & Susan Jacobs, Providing Parents Multidisciplinary Legal Representation Significantly Reduces Childrens Time in Foster Care, Child L. Prac. Ms. Greens attorneys used this knowledge to start planning their settlement and trial strategy.73. There is no question that the in-court advocacy engaged in by the family defender offices is of a much higher order than that practiced by the panel lawyers, as the qualitative study attests. It's time to renew your membership and keep access to free CLE, valuable publications and more. By now, two additional months had passed, and the surgeon thought it wisest to order a new series of x-rays before making any decision that day. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is seeking Entry Level Attorney Candidates for the Family Defense team. In 1972, New Yorks highest court ruled that parents have a constitutional right to counsel in child welfare proceedings.7 In 1975, the legislature codified the ruling and created a statutory right to counsel for indigent parents in child welfare proceedings.8 The legislation delegated authority for funding and managing parental representation to the counties.9. See Id. Our Law & Appeals attorneys work on special legal proceedings, including appeals and special motions in family court. Brooklyn Defender Services. N.Y. Unified Ct. Sys. Part IV, the heart of the Article, describes accounts of actual cases undertaken by this new breed of family defenders, to help explain their superior ability to achieve the objectives of keeping children safely with their families. The parties agreed to a settlement, where Ms. Andersons daughter would be returned to her care immediately. Full-time. Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) is seeking an experienced Attorney for the Custody Practice of the Family Defense Team. Brooklyn, NY, US. When the agency interviewed her, Ms. Green told the investigators the same thing she told the doctors at the hospital. The petition alleged that the skull fracture could only have been the result of child abuse and Ms. Greens failure to provide a sufficient explanation for the injury justified placing Sophia in foster care. The father abused her after the babys birth and the agency brought a case against Ms. Anderson for failing to protect her child. Instead, the agency has conducted the conferences within a day or two after a newborns birth, at a time when the mother is not in a position to participate effectively. As Ms. Barrow and her defense team were making these strides, two intervening actions were taking place, either of which had the potential to negatively impact the prospects of a successful outcome. 675(1). In re Ella B., 285 N.E.2d 288, 290 (N.Y. 1972). 718-564-6290. 89. They help their clients persevere what is otherwise a long, lonely, and frightening journey by staying in close, regular contact with them. See N.Y. Fam. Lucas A. Gerber et al., Effects of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Parental Representation in Child Welfare, 102 Child. Mr. Sanchez was permitted to take his son to Mexico for the treatment he preferred. Without the defense teams constant communication with Ms. Barrow and her providers about her service plan, she would not have had the support necessary to achieve the progress in her mental health treatment. The strategy worked even better than expected. Our attorneys, social workers and other staff work together to advise, assist and represent parents every step of the way. Funding for the study was secured from Casey Family Programs,28 one of the leading child welfare foundations in the country committed to supporting practices designed to ensure that children are able to be raised safely in their families of origin.29 An important question the study hoped to learn was whether the kind of legal representation made available to parents would have any impact on reducing the time children spend in foster care.30, The quantitative study was a multiyear study of child welfare cases brought in the New York City courts to determine whether the kind of legal representation provided to parents can make a difference in the outcome of cases.31 The researchers examined child welfare cases filed in New York City Family Court between 2007 and 2014; the final sample involved 9,582 families with 18,288 children.32 They used Propensity Score Matching as the statistical design, which equalized the groups of families compared on nearly twenty factors or covariates split into variables.33 This methodology allowed the researchers to attribute differences in outcomes between the two groups to the type of representation the parents received.34, The study compared the outcome of cases based on whether parents were represented by panel lawyers and parents who were represented by one of the family defender offices.35 Ultimately, the researchers traced the outcomes of nearly 10,000 families and their more than 18,000 children through a four-year follow-up period.36, The study found that the kind of representation afforded to parents makes a dramatic difference in the length of time children spend in foster care.37 Giving parents the right kind of legal team results in families being reunited far sooner than would otherwise happen.38 The family defense offices were able to secure the safe return of children to their families 43 percent more often in their first year than panel attorneys, and 25 percent more often in the second year.39 Giving parents lawyers from family defense offices allowed children to be permanently released to relatives more than twice as often in the first year of a case and 67 percent more often in the second year.40 These families may otherwise have been permanently dissolved or the children may have spent their childhood separated from their family. Only six babies (8 percent) were placed in foster care with strangers. Once parents had the right to counsel in child welfare proceedings, it fell to the local New York City court administrators to design the legal services delivery system to meet this new constitutional and statutory right. Brooklyn Defender Services Aug 2017 - Aug 2019 2 years 1 month. at 17, 3839 (oral testimony of Angeline Montauban, parent). Approximately 20 percent of the Brooklyn Defender Services Family Defense Practice clients are immigrants, and many do not speak English as their first language. Our staff of 300 includes 180 attorneys as well as social workers, investigators, paralegals, re-entry specialists, jail liaisons, education, community organizers and policy specialists. Find employees, official website, emails, phone numbers, revenue, employee headcount, social accounts, and anything related to Brooklyn Defender Services. The social worker from the defense team examined the extensive x-rays of Eduardos hip with Mr. Sanchez and the surgeon. Law 424 (McKinney 2020). Because the agency caseworker failed to attend this medical conference, however, the agency continued to insist in court that the surgery was required and assert that the surgeon considered Mr. Sanchezs refusal to consent to the surgery as placing Eduardo at serious risk of harm. It requested that Ms. Green participate in dyadic therapy with Sophia, in which a licensed therapist participates in visits between parents and children to develop a healthy attached relationship. at 23 n.179. When parents are unrepresented at these conferences, the plans are more likely to be boilerplate, requiring parents to do things of little value. 23. The problem, of course, is that the surgeon would not have written that letter without the very effective advocacy Mr. Sanchezs team brought to the meeting with him. Although the agency does not permit lawyers to attend these conferences, it does allow parents to bring anyone else to be present. Instead, the agency staff members told Ms. Anderson and her team that they would not allow Ms. Anderson to leave the hospital with her baby and to prepare to go to court the next day when they would be filing a petition alleging neglect based on the allegations in the case of Ms. Andersons previous child. 83. . Id. The social workers on Ms. Greens defense team tapped into their knowledge of local community resources and helped Ms. Green find accessible services that would fit into her busy school and work schedule. The units signal distinction is making sure that someone from the defense team is present at the hospital when the baby is born and is available to participate in all meetings the agency will arrange to discuss the plan. Since the family defender offices opened in 2007 in New York City, the community whose children have been wrested from poor families has had a collective voice in the form of lobbying efforts by the newly created family defender advocates. The agency sent an investigating caseworker to meet with Eduardos teachers at school. Res. Ct. Act 262. The family defender office assigned to represent Ms. Green handles many of these cases each year and has become expert both in cross-examining medical experts called by the agency and at engaging and communicating with knowledgeable physicians able to provide their expert medical opinion on whether an injury is more likely to be the consequence of abuse or an accident. General Inquiries. Each of the cases described took place between 2015 and 2018. Child welfare cases are prosecuted along two tracks: the judicial and the administrative. Although impressed by all the work Ms. Anderson and her team had begun, the agency nonetheless was unwilling to allow Ms. Anderson to go home with her baby. Instead of striving to win on a case-by-case basis in court, the defender community insisted on securing a seat at the table to discuss poor practices with the officials in charge of child welfare in New York City. The previous studies limited their focus to quantitative outcomes achieved at court or to reporting the views of stakeholders focused on the differences between the two kinds of representation made available to parents in New York City.58 This Article starts where the prior two articles left off. 30+ days ago Full Time. Our Medically Complicated Team defends parents facing allegations that stem exclusively from a medical opinion. The offices help parents negotiate all aspects of the process throughout the life of the case. The defense team then went into action. Brooklyn, NY. Child welfare has long been in search of evidence-based programs designed to keep children safely in their own homes. & Youth Servs. Contacting a BDS Staff Member . The teams strategy was to have two opportunities to present the judge with positive impressions of the mother even before conducting the formal hearing seeking the babys return to her custody. But often the agency seeks to remove newborns from the hospital in a case in which the agency has an ongoing involvement with the mother. Within nine months, Ms. Green had completed both the anger management and parenting class, all while working full time and finishing her GED. Each of the three offices had a distinct corporate structure. Brooklyn Defender Services is a public defense office that provides outstanding representation and advocacy to people facing loss of freedom, family separation and other serious legal harms. Easily apply. N.Y. Unified Ct. Sys. Martin Guggenheim, New Study Shows Providing Parents with Multidisciplinary Legal Representation in Child Welfare Cases Furthers Everyones Interests, 20 Child.s Bureau Express no. I think that every parent should have an advocate. In those situations, there is no way to give credit to the kind of legal representation the parent was given when comparing outcomes of cases between those handled by panel lawyers and multidisciplinary offices. In sharing some of these accounts, the reader should pay particular attention to the frequency with which investigators from the child welfare agencies make mistakes, get facts wrong, fail to show up for critical meetings, or base recommendations on faulty information that is either flatly wrong or materially incomplete. View job. Email Us. Because Ms. Green was unable to provide a clear explanation for the injury, the hospital called the child protection agency, which immediately began an investigation. Director of Brooklyn Defender Services' Family Defense Practice. The supervisor denied the request, approved the caseworkers leaving the conference, and explained that the agency had all the information it needed. Before going to housing court, the defender offices housing specialist contacted the City office that was providing the rental subsidy to explain the problem and was able to get the office to write an additional check to her landlord to eliminate all arrears on her rent. for Child.s Servs., https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/child-welfare/will-acs-take-my-child.page (last visited Oct. 6, 2020). The staff lawyers also benefit by having access to motions previously filed by colleagues in other cases and an administrative staff to help them efficiently file motions with the court.61 These offices have developed a deep knowledge of the communities their clients live in and strong ties with local resources and service providers. An ill-advised case plan not only wastes money; it wastes the most precious commodity in the field: time. At the next court date, the defense team presented the letter to the agency and the court. In Queens and Richmond County (Staten Island), no change to the legal representation landscape occurred at that time. He was kind and understanding. 10. When Mr. Sanchez told the surgeon that he would not consent to the recommended surgery, the surgeon made a call to the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, which resulted in an investigation being commenced by the local child protection agency.84. A case like this would not even show up in the results found in the quantitative study, which focused on the length of time children remain in foster care and other outcomes of cases. See Casey Family Programs, How Does High-Quality Legal Representation for Parents Support Better Outcomes? Once the report was provided to the court, the judge ordered that the newborn be returned to Ms. Barrows custody in light of the risk assessment and proof that the conditions in her apartment were vastly improved. By 2014, five family defender offices had contracts to represent parents.93 In some parts of New York City, family defender offices handle the vast majority of new cases filed. P (718) 254-0700; F (718) 254-0897; E info@bds.org; Facebook; Twitter; FAMILY DEFENSE. The Article proceeds in five parts. The Brooklyn Officethe Brooklyn Family Defense Projectwas a project of the largest civil legal services organization in New York City, Legal Services for New York, now Legal Services NYC. Had Ms. Barrow not had a team committed to being with her when she gave birth, to preparing assiduously for the conference held when the baby was born, and to being ready to fight for her when the baby was removed less than a week later, her case would surely have come out differently.