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February 2010Vol. 11, No. 1Models for Effective Legal Representation of Parents

In response to an emerging national consensus that quality legal representation for parents can help ensure the most appropriate outcomes for families and children involved in the child welfare system, the American Bar Association (ABA) has compiled a factsheet of model programs aimed at improving the level and quality of parent representation.

Summary of Parent Representation Models reviews 22 parent representation models currently in use in 14 States and the District of Columbia. Each summary provides a snapshot of what the jurisdiction is doing in areas such as training, developing caseload and practice standards for attorneys and social workers, and compensation to improve legal representation for parents. A website address is provided (when available) for each program.

In addition, brief summaries are provided on the efforts in five other States to improve parent representation. The publication concludes with a description of programs to provide legal representation for parents at three law school clinics.

This publication can be found on the ABA website:

http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/center_on_children_and_the_law/parentrepresentation/summary_parentrep_model.authcheckdam.pdf (133 KB)