A New Kind of Lawyer for Parents and Children
by: Amiller • September 25, 2014 • no comments
- “Parents (and their families, including their children) deserve a particular kind of lawyer in child welfare and termination of parental rights proceedings.”[1]
Oregon’s Office of Public Defense Services Creates Parent Child Representation Program
Over the past decade, increased attention has been given to the connection between positive outcomes for children and families and quality legal representation. The improved outcomes are notable: children reuniting with parents more quickly and safely, children obtaining permanency sooner, more effective and more frequent visitation, and an increase in the use of extended family for placement and support. Repeated studies indicate that when parents are represented by attorneys with reasonable caseloads, the attorneys spend more time with parents and, as a result, both parents and children have better experiences with the child welfare system.[2]
When parents are represented by attorneys who collaborate with social workers and parents’ advocates, parents have better results. In 2000, the Washington State legislature funded a pilot Parent Representation Program (PRP), aimed at improving the quality of defense representation in dependency and termination proceedings. Reduced caseloads, adequate compensation and independent social worker support, and adherence to training and performance standards were key components of the program. This effective program resulted in an 11 percent higher reunification rate and an over 80 percent increase in the adoption or guardianship rate.[3]
Oregon’s Office of Public Defense Services seeks to follow in the footsteps of Washington’s highly successful program through its own Parent Child Representation Program (PCRP). The vision for PCRP began at the close of the 2013 session when the legislature provided funding to improve the quality of representation in juvenile court. Following this legislative directive, OPDS evaluated options, conducted research, and elected to implement the pilot program.
The key components of PCRP are: (1) reduced caseload for lawyers, (2) additional training opportunities, (3) greater oversight and (4) independent social work support for parent and child clients. Through these four elements, PCRP seeks to prove what has been posited for the past decade: that the quality of legal representation for parents and children in juvenile court improves when attorneys have reduced caseloads, adequate support, and increased oversight which demands high quality representation. Quality legal representation leads to higher rates of permanency for children.[4]
The Oregon Judicial Department (OJD), Department of Human Services (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), and CASA volunteered to partner and assist in the overall goal of improving representation in juvenile cases from beginning to end. Agencies have offered to assist with multi-disciplinary trainings, resources, and shared information to make overall systematic improvements in assuring these cases are handled judiciously.
PCRP kicked off in August 2014 with Linn and Yamhill counties. For more information about PCRP, contact Nancy Cozine, Executive Director, OPDS (503-378-2515, nancy.cozine@opds.state.or.us), or Amy Miller, Deputy General Counsel, OPDS (503-378-3495, amy.miller@opds.state.or.us).
Endnotes
- ↑ Guggenheim and Jacobs, “A New National Movement in Parent Representation,” Clearinghouse REVIEW Journal of Poverty Law and Policy (May-June 2013).
- ↑ Laver, “Improving Representation for Parents in the Child-Welfare System,” American Bar Association Children’s Rights Litigation, http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/childrights/content/articles/fall2013-1013-improving-representation-parents-child-welfare-system.html (October 2013).
- ↑ Courtney, Hook & Orme, “Evaluation of the impact of enhanced parental legal representation on the timing of permanency outcomes,” Partners for Our Children (Discussion Paper Vol. 1(1)) (2011).
- ↑ See FN 3.
OCDLA Member Amy Miller is Deputy General Counsel and Manager of the Parent Child Representation Program at the Office of Public Defense Services. She serves on OCDLA’s Juvenile Law Committee. This article originally appeared in the August-September-October 2014 issue of the The Oregon Defense Attorney journal.
