Home > Conference Calendar > 15th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect > Conference Program > Skills Seminars > Empowering Children in the Court System: The Child Advocate Model of Representation (Skills Seminar I)

Empowering Children in the Court System: The Child Advocate Model of Representation (Skills Seminar I)

Empowering Children in the Court System: The Child Advocate Model of Representation
(Skills Seminar I)

Staging a hearing together with a client interview is the best way to demonstrate the role of the Child Advocate Model of Representation and how it can empower children and affect their outcomes. This seminar also includes an explanation of the American Bar Association Standards of Representation, which support this model, and the "considered judgment issue," i.e., the standard to represent the child according to his/her expressed interest as long as the child has the ability to make reasoned decisions. The Child Advocate Model is built on the recognition that a child is a separate individual, and the attorney must advocate the child's articulated position. This model, which is in direct contrast to the guardian ad item, empowers children to participate in the decision making process and to offer input in decisions concerning their own lives and destiny.

Pauline Mandel
Joan Little
Patricia Weeks, M.S.S.W.
Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland
500 E. Lexington Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21202

Melanie Klein, M.A., M.S.S.W., J.D.
Legal Aid Bureau Metropolitan Maryland Office
6811 Kenilworth Avenue
Calvert Building, Suite 500
Riverdale, MD 20737-1333

Seri Wilpone, J.D.
Legal Aid Bureau
Southern Maryland Office
Route 231
15364 Prince Frederick Road
P.O. Box 249
Hughesville, MD 20637

View the complete list of presenters.

To purchase all available audio recordings, visit http://www.fltwood.com/onsite/nccan/.

 

 

Updated on February 24, 2010