School: John Marshall Law School

I was placed at the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic. Having spent last summer at the DeKalb County Child Advocacy Center (non-ESCAP), I wanted to see the law and policy side of child advocacy. My overarching goal this summer was to gain a general knowledge of the law and policy governing child welfare. A residual goal was to enhance my research skills and, in the process, produce a research document.

There is no question in my mind that these goals were achieved, and each project I worked on and each meeting I attended contributed to my goals being met. This summer provided exactly what I sought. The Clinic gave me the perfect combination of in-office research and out-of-office meetings.

I. Inside the Clinic: Projects

I spent the summer focusing on three projects. First, was an update to the Clinic's publication, Georgia's Responsibilities Toward Children in Foster Care: A Reference Manual. Second, was a project focusing on home visitation. Finally, another intern and I completed a research paper detailing other states' efforts in revising their Juvenile Codes.

A. Manual Update

The update to the Manual is a large project that requires meticulous work. The Manual contains nearly 800 citations. Those cites are comprised of state and federal statutory law, case law, DFCS policy, web resources, interviews, etc. Because of changes to the law (and sources of information), there were significant amounts of text that needed to be added or changed.

In my time at the Clinic I checked the first 400 citations and added a significant amount of updated text to the document. The actual document is in a constant state of change. Regarding the citations, however, I first checked all cites relating to DFCS policy. Next, I checked all of the O.C.G.A. cites. Then, I checked the administrative code citations. Finally, I focused on the non-policy and non-statutory citations. The final group of citations included case law, internet citations, articles and other documents.

I collaborated with Karen Worthington using a system of comments. Since we worked on the document at different times, we left comments on areas where we had questions. Although Karen was not at the Clinic for the majority of the time we worked on the project, there was never a time when a question went unanswered or a comment was left without a response. Collaborating with Karen was highly productive. Furthermore, working on the update allowed me to both improve my research skills and work with legislation more closely than I have in the past. Further, it provided me with an overarching understanding of child welfare -- specifically, funding sources.

The aspect of the update I enjoyed most was case law research. This gave me an opportunity to not only find the relevant case law, but also to add text referring to the change in law. This project was extremely beneficial because it required me to read the document multiple times. Since I intend to go into the child advocacy field in Georgia, reading and working with the leading document on the subject was invaluable.

B. Home Visitation

I worked on the home visitation project with a fellow intern (Kate Franklin). My work on this project mainly entailed reading relevant documents and attending meetings on the subject. I completed a number of summaries on various articles relating to home visitation. These were then used to by Kate to draft an introduction to an already existing paper put out by the Clinic.

Although the work product I have to show for my efforts is not extensive, I believe that I gained a good deal of beneficial knowledge on a very interesting subject. Furthermore, being interested in politics and the political system, the most enjoyable aspect of this project for me was working with Mary Margaret Oliver. It was fascinating to hear her thoughts on a complex subject. The studied manner in which she analyzed the subject to form an opinion was fun to watch. I imagine that this lack of impetuousness and her desire to have an educated opinion is the reason she is such a respected legislator. Being exposed to that subtle insight was a further benefit to an already rewarding project.

Finally, getting an opportunity to work with Kate Franklin was another plus. Although she worked limited hours at the Clinic, the time we did spend working together was productive. Kate's experience with a home visitation program when she had her first child, and her being a current mother to an infant, added an interesting perspective to the project.

C. JUSTGA Paper Three: Juvenile Code Revision Efforts in Other States

JUSTGA paper three examines the efforts of other states to revise their juvenile codes. I collaborated with another Clinic intern, Genie Key, on this project. Our aim was to research the efforts of other states and determine if any state had attempted or completed what Georgia is trying to do with its Juvenile Code. Genie and I conducted web research, finding sparse information on four to five states.

After this research was complete, we began to contact people involved with the Georgia Juvenile Code rewrite. We initially contacted Soledad McGrath (reporter for GA's rewrite) and Lucy McGough (professor at LSU Law Center). Both Ms. McGrath and Prof. McGough offered information on other persons to contact; and, Prof. McGough directed us toward the MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change program. Further, Prof. McGough sent us documentation on Louisiana's revision in the late 1980s.

From there we spent time researching the Model for Change states, and contacting persons in those states. With that information, we drafted a rather long paper on just those five to six states. A breakthrough came, however, when Genie and I drafted an email to be sent on the ABA and NCJJ listservs, requesting information on other states that should be included in the paper. This was Karen Worthington's idea, and it truly made all the difference in expanding our paper from one that was lacking to one that achieved our initial goal.

Overall, the project went very well. We ended up creating a workable appendix, when at times we were stumped with what to include. Similarly, the body of the paper was drafted in a workable manner, and it provides the reader with perspective of revision efforts of other states. Having a team work on this project was extremely beneficial. Genie and I worked very well together. We were able to communicate ideas to each other and provide another layer of editing that is not present on a single person project. As a result, only minor changes were suggested when we turned in our drafts.

I enjoyed my work on this project the most of all three. The combination of producing a final product, and being able to collaborate with a compatible work-partner contributed greatly to my like of this project. This project also saw the achievement of one of my residual goals -- creating a research document.

II. Outside the Clinic: Meetings and Functions

The opportunity to attend meetings was a great way to feel like a part of the child advocacy community, and often I found that those meetings bolstered my understanding of the projects I was working on by providing real world context. I attended a variety of meetings, including: the DHR roundtable budget, Children's Justice Act Advisory Committee, House Bill 866, the DHR board/budget meeting, the DHR board meeting, DFCS Program Improvement Plan Kickoff, JustGeorgia, and Voices legislative update.

Not only did these meetings provide me with context for my projects, they offered me an opportunity to see a system at work. All the meetings were enjoyable; however, the most interesting were the DHR/DFCS meetings. I am very interested in DFCS policy and the DHR in general. In all, I attended four this summer. Two were all day meetings (PIP Kickoff, DHR board/budget meeting); the DHR roundtable was a couple of hours long, and the DHR board meetings was very short. These meetings offered both valuable insight into the policy and action of DHR/DFCS and a view of the massive task with which the agency and department are faced.

The legislative and policy meetings were also very interesting. The House Bill 866 gave me an opportunity to sit in on a strategy session. The Children's Justice Act Advisory Committee meeting provided me with a knowledge of funding streams. The Voices legislative update gave me a detailed look at both child welfare related legislation from the 2007 session and the budgeting process. The JUSTGeorgia meeting offered a look at coalition building. In all, attending the meetings not only improved the quality of my work in the Clinic, it provided me with a layered look at law and policy, revealing the landscape of child welfare in Georgia.

Additionally, the ESCAP functions offered even another perspective. The Celebration of Excellence was a great event at which the ESCAP students volunteered. It was refreshing to both interact with the foster youth and see their accomplishments celebrated.

The tour of My House (a home for medically fragile children) was remarkable as well. Donna Carson, founder of the home, gave us a tour and discussed with us her desire to aid medically fragile children. Further, she told specific stories of both current and former residents of the home. The tour of Georgia Centers for Children exposed the ESCAP students to an equally profound population of children, those who have been sexually abused.

The work outside the clinic was truly holistic. While the meetings I attended for the Clinic gave me a detailed look at the law and policy governing child welfare, the ESCAP functions provided me with an intimate look at the children whose welfare the law and policy governs.

III. Overall Experience at the Clinic

I cannot overstate how enjoyable it was to work at the Clinic. The faculty/attorneys at the Clinic (Beth Reimels, Karen Worthington, Mary Margaret Oliver, and Melanie Mendenhall) were all wonderful to work for. Whenever I had a question or needed any assistance they were eager to provide me with guidance. They were equally eager to discuss my plans to continue in child advocacy after law school. There was never a time where I felt as if they were unavailable or unwilling to speak with me. Being surrounded by such exceptionally bright and dedicated child advocates has reaffirmed my desire to be a child advocate in Georgia. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate in the Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program and to have been placed at the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic.