worker, and a peer navigator (a parent who has had direct experience with the child protection/foster care sys- tem)—is intended to represent and support parents at risk of experiencing the placement of their children into state custody and out-of-home care.2
VPRC’s application of the team model in our rural state is one of the first, if not the first attempt to bring the approach to oth- er than an urban area. With much too limit- ed funding, VPRC has supported some very positive outcomes for families who were working largely unaided to keep their fami- lies intact. At approximately the same time, the Ver- mont Defender General instituted a pro- gram to make social work services avail- able statewide to parent clients, initial- ly on a limited basis. The program start- ed slowly in Chittenden County and has since been rolled out to several other Ver- mont counties, using private social work- ers who are hired on a case-by-case basis where deemed appropriate. According to Anna Saxman, Deputy Defender General who oversees the program, social work- er services are available currently in Chit- tenden, Franklin, Orleans, Caledonia, Rut- land, Bennington, and Windham counties and she hopes that providers will be iden-
tified to work in the other Vermont coun- ties very soon. She is especially pleased with the work being done in this program with kids in the Truancy Project in Chitten- den, where children have been spared the trauma of entering state custody because of the social work intervention afforded by the program. Other organizations use this model, such as The Detroit Center for Family Advoca- cy, a project of the University of Michigan Law School that uses the multi-disciplin- ary team approach to keep children out of state custody or, failing that, to make their time in state custody as short as possible. As in New York City, each client is assigned a lawyer, social worker, and peer navigator. By all available evidence, the utilization of a team approach in the representation of parents in juvenile court, as described above, has improved the lives of children and their families who are involved in the juvenile court system. However, the expan- sion of these programs has been hampered by limited funding. If the notion of making children’s lives better, safer and less frac- tured is not enough to motivate us to make long-term investment in this sensible ap- proach, I can only hope that an econom- ic analysis may win the day. The multidis- ciplinary team model has been tried and proven in several venues and, by reducing
the time that children spend in state cus- tody, has actually saved the government a lot of money. By reinvesting those unspent dollars in the broader implementation of this model, the savings would be multi- plied. I’d take that result, either as the in- tended outcome or unintended byproduct, if anyone has the solution to how we con- vince funders to support the expansion of these programs for the good of our fami- lies and communities.3 ____________________ Susan M. Buckholz, Esq., is an attor- ney and mediator in private practice in Quechee, Vermont. She serves as the par- ent attorney representative on the Ver- mont Supreme Court’s Justice for Children Task Force.
____________________ 1
we-do. 3
at
www.childlawpractice.org. 2
CHILD LAW PRACTICE ONLINE, vol. 31, no. 8, p. 11, “What We Do,”
http://www.vtprc.org/what- Online resources for additional information:
Center for Family Representation, http://www.
cfrny.org; Detroit Center for Family Advoca- cy,
http://www.law.umich.edu/centersandpro- grams/ccl/cfa/Pages /
default.aspx; Vermont Par- ent Representation Center, Inc., http://www.vt-
prc.org/what-we-do; Washington Office of Pub- lic Defender Parent Representation Services,
http://www.opd.wa.gov/PRP-home.htm.
CELEBRATE PRO BONO 2012 8:30-9:00
Thursday, October 25, 2012 • Vermont State House, Montpelier, VT Register and visit exhibits of VBF grantees and friends who provide legal services to the poor
9:00-9:10 Welcome by Amber Barber, President, VBA Board of Bar Managers 9:10-10:25
10:25-10:40 BREAK 10:40-12:10
12:10-1:15 1:15-2:45:
Strengthening the Bar Foundation as the VBF turns 30 (1.25 MCLE Credit) History of the Foundation and purposes, a review of present programs and future challenges, and the 30 for 30 challenge. Beth Danon, Chair, and VBF Board members
Strength in Unity: Vermont’s Access to Justice Coalition (1.5 MCLE credits) History of the A2J Coalition, historic needs, current needs review and assessment, and interactive discussion on gaps in legal services in Vermont –Bob Paolini, Chair, and A2J Coalition Members
LUNCH and KEYNOTE SPEAKER JUSTICE BETH ROBINSON --Self-Represented Litigants and the Work of the Task Force
Concurrent Sessions: (1.5 MCLE credits) a) Overcoming Barriers to Pro Bono Service: A review of generational poverty and its challenges; tips, techniques, and trends to overcome obstacles to serving the poor.
b) Vermont Strong and the Legal System: Meeting legal needs in time of disaster, how we responded to Irene, and what we can do better in the future.
2:45-3:00 3:00-4:30:
BREAK
Concurrent Sessions (1.5 MCLE credits, including ½ hour of ethics each panel) c) Yes, You Can: Pro bono and government service, including review of ethics rules for government attorneys, sample policies and examples of government attorneys’ pro bono programs
d) Pro Bono, Low Bono and Public Service for the New and New-to-Vermont Lawyer: A review of Rule 6.1, benefits of pro bono and low bono programs, and integrating pro bono into a private practice
4:30-5:00: 5:00-6:30:
Vermont Supreme Court Swearing in Ceremony for New Vermont Attorneys
RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE THE VERMONT BAR FOUNDATION’S 30TH BIRTHDAY Cedar Creek Room, Statehouse
40 THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2012
www.vtbar.org
The Children’s Corner
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