State

Citation (or author, description, title, date)

Notes

Maine

Maine Child Welfare Advisory Panel, Annual Report 2021 (Jan. 2022)

See the recommendation for a pre-petition representation pilot project that appears on page 16.

General

Am. Bar Ass’n & Nat’l Council of Juv. & Fam. Ct. Judges, Judge’s Action Alert, Supporting Early Legal Advocacy before Court Involvement in Child Welfare Cases (March 2021)

Explains why juvenile and family court judges should support prepetition representation programs and includes information on several programs across the country.

General

Melissa Carter, An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a pound of Cure: Why Children’s Lawyers Must Champion Preventative Legal Advocacy, 42 Child. Legal Rts. J. 1 (2021)

Beginning on page 14, this article provides a helpful overview of pre-petition representation projects (as compared to preventive legal advocacy projects).

 General

Children’s Bureau, U.S. Dept. Health & Hum. Servs., Information Brief, Utilizing Title IV-E Funding to Support High Quality Legal Representation for Children and Youth who are in Foster Care, Candidates for Foster Care and their Parents and to Promote Child and Family Well-being (Jan. 14, 2021)

Section IV(c) of the information brief indicates that federal fund under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act may be used for pre-petition representation while Section V describes the process for claiming Title IV-E funding reimbursement for this type of service.

General

Casey Family Programs, Strategy Brief, How can pre-petition legal representation help strengthen families and keep them together? (Feb. 13, 2020)

Describes common features of and lessons learned from pre-petition legal programs in other jurisdictions.

General

Family Justice Initiative,  Guide to Implementing FJI System Attributes: Implementing FJI System Attributes: Attribute 4: Timing of Appointment (2020)

Supports pre-petition legal work by attorneys and describes pilot programs conducted in several other jurisdictions.

General

American Bar Association, Center on Children and the Law, Prepetition Legal Representation (website)

The website of this project area of the ABA’s Center on Children and the Law includes links to several relevant materials and contains information on several prepetition projects across the country.

General

Vivek Sankaran, Using Preventive Legal Advocacy to Keep Children from Entering Foster Care, 40 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1036 (2014).

The author of this article, a professor at the University of Michigan, founded the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, one of the first pre-petition legal representation projects.

California

Jeremy Loudenback, Amid Protest, L.A. County Looks to Early Legal Representation for Parents to Avoid Foster Care Removals, The Imprint: Youth & Family News (May 17, 2022)

Short article describing pre-petition representation initiative in Los Angeles County.

Children’s Law Center of California, Pre-Filing Intervention Referral Form (undated)

Client Referral Form for the Center’s Pre-Filing Intervention (PFI) program, which represents parents at risk of custody loss. See also a brief description of the PFI program here.

Colorado

Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, Preventive Legal Services Implementation Guide (May 11, 2022)

Describes a pilot project in Jefferson County, Colorado, supported by federal and state funding.  Explains eligibility for services, referrals, potential for interdisciplinary assistance, types of legal services provided, and follow-up interviews to evaluate program efficacy.

Iowa

Iowa Legal Aid, Pamphlet, Parent Representation Project (undated)

Two-page handout reporting results from 2019 of pre-petition representation project in which a lawyer, case manager and parent advocate support each family.

Amber Gilson & Michelle Jungers, American Bar Association, Preserving Families Through High-Quality Pre-Petition Representation (March 4, 2021)

Describes a pilot project in four counties conducted by Iowa Legal Aid. Describes the interdisciplinary services model, referral process and funding sources utilized.

Imprint Staff Reports, Iowa Law to Test the Benefit of Early Legal Help in Child Welfare Cases (July 1, 2020)

Discussing Iowa S.B. 2182, which was signed by the Governor on June 17, 2020.

Michigan (Detroit)

Univ. of Michigan Law School, Detroit Center for Family Advocacy  (2014)

Report of the results of a 3-year pre-petition legal assistance pilot project from Child Advocacy Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School.

New Jersey

Gianna Giordano & Jey Rajaraman, American Bar Association, Increasing Pre-Petition Legal Advocacy to Keep Families Together  (Dec. 15, 2020)

Summarizes the work of Legal Services of New Jersey’s Family Representation Project, which began in 2018.  Describes model, outcomes and parent ally program and provides advice for other organizations on starting similar programs.

Legal Services of New Jersey, Celebrating Reunification Starts with Understanding What Keeps Families Together (undated article on LSNJ website)

Indicates that the Legal Services of New Jersey’s Family Representation Project was able, using a multidisciplinary approach, to prevent removals in all of its cases.

Legal Services of New Jersey, Parent Ally Program Supports Prevention and Prepetition Efforts (undated article on LSNJ website)

Short article describing the work of LSNJ’s parent ally.

New York

Bronx Defenders, Family Defense Practice (website)

Webpage describing the Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice, a multidisciplinary team that represents parents involved in child welfare investigations in the Bronx.

Martin Guggenheim, How Family Defender Offices in New York City Are Able to Safely Reduce the Time Children Spend in Foster Care, 54 Fam. L.Q. 1 (2020)

Law Review article describing the efficacy of multidisciplinary legal representation for families at risk of child removal in New York City. Although the article does not focus on pre-petition representation, it discusses the interdisciplinary approach used by Bronx Defenders.

Lucas A. Gerber, et al., Effects of an interdisciplinary approach to parental representation in child welfare, 102 Child. & Youth Servs. Rev. 42 (2019)

Reporting results of a study on the impact on child welfare outcomes when parents were provided interdisciplinary legal representation instead of standard attorney representation.  Does not assess interdisciplinary pre-petition representation projects but encourages further study of such programs.

Elizabeth Fassler & Wanjiro Gethaiga, Representing Parents During Child Welfare Investigations: Precourt Advocacy Strategies, 30 Child L. Practice 17 (2011)

Describes the work of Community Advocacy Teams, which are pre-petition representation teams created by the Center for Family Representation, Inc. in New York City.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Human Services Waypoint Podcast Episode 5: OKDHS and Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma help families engaged with the child welfare system navigate legal issues (Sept. 21, 2021)

Interview with attorneys from the Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, discussing the family representation contract through which families are provided legal support with the goal of preventing children from entering state custody.

Washington (King County)

Center for Children & Youth Justice, Our Work: Stabilizing Families (website)

Very short summary of the Center for Children & Youth Justice’s pre-petition representation work. 

Washington (Snohomish County)

F.I.R.S.T. Clinic, What We Do (undated website)

 Website of the F.I.R.S.T. Clinic.

Tonya Wall & Adam Ballout, American Bar Association, Using Legal Services to Keep Children in Families: the F.I.R.S.T. Clinic, (Oct. 3, 2019)

Summary of the F.I.R.S.T. Clinic a pre-petition representation project that works with mothers who have substance-exposed infants.

Nina Shapiro, Is Washington state taking too many children from their parents? Movement seeks to overhaul foster care, Seattle Times (March 30, 2021)

Article on use of Family First Prevention Act to decrease removals; includes a description of the F.I.R.S.T. Clinic’s work with mothers with substance-exposed infants.