New Law and Policy Clinic At Emory To Help
Georgia's Neglected and Abused Children
Media Contact: Elaine Justice
ejustic@emory.edu/404-727-0643
(ATLANTA, March 31, 2000)---New Law and Policy Clinic At Emory To Help Georgia's Neglected and Abused Children
Emory University has launched the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic, dedicated to improving Georgia's child protection system by focusing on helping the state serve neglected and abused children. The clinic will provide multi-disciplinary, child-focused research, training, and support for practitioners and policy-makers charged with protecting Georgia's children.
The clinic will be located at Emory Law School and collaborate with other Emory schools and units, including the Rollins School of Public Health, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, the School of Medicine and the Center for Violence Studies. The clinic will work with other Georgia colleges and universities that have programs related to child protection.
Local attorney Karen Worthington will serve as the clinic's director. Atlantans Michelle and Andrew Barclay will provide funding for the clinic's start-up phase. All three have extensive experience in the child protection system.
"With the creation of the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic, Georgia now has a research center dedicated to improving the child welfare system for the benefit of the children involved in the system," says Howard Hunter, dean of Emory Law School.
Michelle Barclay, an attorney who is child placement project director for the Supreme Court of Georgia, said that she and her husband "hope the Barton Clinic will serve as a strong catalyst for systemic policy and process changes and improvements in Georgiašs child welfare practices. Media coverage in the past year about the deaths of children in state custody sadly highlights the great need to reform Georgiašs child welfare system."
Initial funding for the clinic will be provided through the Barton Fund at the Atlanta Community Foundation. Both the Barton Fund and the clinic were named in honor of Andrew Barclay's grandparents, Sara and Lewis Barton of Cherry Hill, N.J.
The clinic will provide research-based information about best practices and technological advances in children's law, an area that requires specialized knowledge and skill.. The clinic also will provide research-based feedback on whether policies and laws affecting children have their intended effect. Other planned activities for the clinic include:
- Ongoing workshops for practitioners
- Student internships that focus on research, evaluation, drafting and tracking legislation and working on public policy in the area of child deprivation
- An annual symposium, to be broadcast on the Internet and at distance learning sites across Georgia
- A web site to serve as a statewide resource on child abuse and neglect issues; and
- One-year post-graduate fellowships that focus on specific issues in child deprivation.
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The Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic, info@ChildWelfare.net
Emory University School of Law, Gambrell Hall, Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-6664.