School: St. John's University School of Law

My experience this summer with the One Child, One Lawyer (OCOL) program of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) couldn't have gone better. The program, directed by Lila Bradley, matches attorneys who are willing to volunteer in a pro-bono capacity with Fulton County Juvenile Court cases involving children who have been abused and/or neglected and removed from their homes. Lila supports and supervises the volunteers closely from the initial probable cause hearing all the way through to reunification with parents or the termination of parental rights and adoption. From my very first week working with Lila, I found myself immersed in many aspects of child advocacy. During any given week, we were working on many different cases at various stages in the judicial process. I was able to attend nearly every OCOL hearing during my time with AVLF and quickly became familiar with the judiciary and staff of the Fulton County Juvenile Courthouse.

I learned that while all of our cases involved abuse/neglect in some way, every case was unique and required individual attention and consideration. There were some cases involving egregious abuse where non-reunification was appropriately the initial case plan goal; however, there were also cases that were much less clear- where the parent(s) obviously loved their children but were unable to care for them in an appropriate way due to a lack of support/resources. One of the most troubling realities I was confronted with this summer was when a mother would deny/reject the sexual abuse of her children if the perpetrator was her boyfriend/spouse. It was also shocking to learn that this is not uncommon in instances involving sexual abuse of children. I really struggled with understanding how a mother could choose her perpetrator boyfriend/spouse over her own children, and talked to Lila about it several times. She helped me to understand the roles that dependency and domestic violence play in encouraging a mother's disturbing failure to protect her own children.

The summer also provided me with a valuable exposure to the court system and the practical application of the law. The timeline and procedure involved in a child deprivation proceeding can vary from case to case, but it was so helpful to understand the framework/structure upon which the cases proceed. I also came to understand the important role of the child advocate not only in terms of the child represented, but also to balance the presence of the Special Assistant Attorney General (SAAG) and the parent's attorney.