School: Emory University School of Law

When I matched with the Office of the Child Advocate, I really had no idea what working with a state agency would entail. The project description only provided clarity on an intangible level because I had no experience with a policy-level agency. My work prior to law school was advocacy for domestic violence victims and their children, but I was a direct service provider. More than a direct service provider, I served as part of an emergency intervention team. I remembered how it felt to attend coalition meetings and often feel like those directing policy didn't really know how I spent my day, nor did they recognize that the resources we had available to assist these women and children were very limited. I can honestly say that after a summer with the Office of the Child Advocate and interacting with its policy partners, that its policy is driven by expressed need. The OCA staff is acutely aware of what barriers case workers in urban and rural areas face.

I hesitated taking this placement because I felt like it would be hypocritical to evaluate and audit a system and workers where I had little to no hands-on experience. Beth Reimels encouraged me to take the placement because a state level agency would provide an overview of the field. I would be exposed to many of the different areas of child advocacy, and I was. The internship with the OCA allowed me to see the role of child advocate in the court system, in the policy arena, and in the child welfare system. I feel that this type of exposure was invaluable. Simply knowing your career options and what differentiates these options were a tremendous gift for me and my professional development.

Furthermore, after one audit debriefing with OCA staff I quickly learned that the auditing process was not set up as an adversarial confrontation. The OCA presents its statistical findings to the local county DFCS staff and then a dialogue takes place. The OCA really listens to the barriers workers face, and the workers and supervisors seem to see OCA as a resource and a source of support. Participating in the auditing process was a highlight of my summer experience because I saw it as a real collaboration between service providers and policy makers to better the child welfare system.

In addition to the several audit debriefings I was able to participate in, I also was able to serve as a member of the audit team. Reading DFCS files and understanding the great complexity that each case presents is overwhelming. It was immediately obvious that DFCS is often called upon to fix problems well outside of child protection and child welfare, but familial systems are complicated and I generally observed that case workers rise to all needs of the child. You don't have to have child advocacy experience to know of the general community skepticism that accompanies DFCS. However, my emotional depletion after auditing files was not a result of the failures of DFCS, but it was based upon the horrible things parents and care-takers will do to their children.

The OCA placement also involves an investigative component where cases referred to the office are thoroughly investigated. This experience too proved to be valuable in understanding the decisions a case worker makes and the time it takes to make initial and continuing contacts with all of the family members or foster parents involved in the case. The investigation centers around assessing compliance with DFCS policy and procedure, however in one of my cases there were some real concerns with the level of investigation. The paperwork was timely and complete, yet there were signs that identified a higher level of risk than noted by the case worker. Tragically, the child was severely injured from a physical beating, and in conversation with the worker, and working closely with the OCA investigative team, I feel the concerns I was able to express were not simply those of a watchdog agency, but, again, it had a more collaborative feel with the shared intent of keeping children safe. I felt that this case served as a microcosm for the value in having an oversight agency. I am sure that case workers may not always feel especially comforted by it, but an overburdened system needs a fresh set of eyes to ensure that children are adequately protected and cared for.

My experience ranged from looking at an individual case to looking at state-wide statistics and researching other states' policies in an attempt to better Georgia's child welfare system. The policy piece of the internship and its accompanying research was really challenging and a great legal experience. The policy aspects and the opportunity to effect change on a systemic level is exciting, but it can be frightening as well. I was able to observe the juvenile code re-write sessions because of OCA's involvement, and side research projects were often generated from OCA's own proposals. Yet, the pace of the re-write and the lack of research based proposals highlighted for me the dangerous aspects of policy, statutory, or legislative change as well.

My legal research culminated in a presentation to the Governor's senior policy advisor. The experience was fantastic, and the exposure to how a bill is spawned, sponsored, and passed was tremendously valuable. The collaboration of the OCA also impressed me at the legislative level. It seems that there is a commitment to work with and for other child advocacy players to effect change and legislative success for Georgia's children.

I am grateful and excited about my summer experience and the career opportunities in the child advocacy field that lie ahead. Despite my self doubts, my placement provided the perfect opportunity for me to learn about the child advocacy system as a whole and to observe its parts along the way.