A LEGAL HAND FOR FOSTER CHILDREN

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Dazeemay
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A LEGAL HAND FOR FOSTER CHILDREN

Postby Dazeemay » Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:44 pm

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... EUB781.DTL

EDITORIAL
A legal hand for foster children

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

WITH MORE THAN 80,000 foster children in California and merely 1,000 attorneys to represent them, it's no wonder many foster kids never even see their lawyers. For the 500,000 children in the nation's system, the ratio is no better.

In fact, in some states, foster children are not given the right to a legal advocate. In places where legal representation is mandated, such as California, attorneys can be burdened with as many as 600 cases.

The nation's foster-care system faces serious systemic problems, many of which are rooted in the courts. "No child enters or leaves foster care without a judge's decision," said Bill Frenzel, chair of the Pew Commission on foster care.

Attorneys who choose to specialize in juvenile-dependency law play a key role in the lives of foster children. Their representation enables the child to have a voice in the courts and affects where the child will live, with whom and for how long.

But with many of these lawyers burdened with overwhelming student loans, poorly compensated posts and outrageous caseloads, many are being forced out of these roles that foster children so desperately rely on.

According to a report by the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles released today, student loan debt drastically affects the ability to recruit and retain attorneys in this practice. The survey of more than 300 juvenile-dependency attorneys in 43 states found that 62 percent of the lawyers said their student loans would affect their decision to seek other jobs.

While the lawyers are saddled with the bill, foster kids are the ones who ultimately pay the price. With many attorneys leaving the practice, kids are often assigned to various lawyers, just as they are shuffled from one foster home to the next. Each relationship between child and attorney is disrupted, and no real trust or knowledge of the child's wants and needs is formed. If foster care is truly meant to provide a haven for neglected and abused children, each of them must be given consistent and effective legal representation.

Two bills were recently introduced in Congress that include provisions on loan forgiveness programs for attorneys representing foster youth -- "We Care Act," S1679 (Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio), and "Fostering our Future," HR3758 (Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena).

Both bills call for training for dependency attorneys and call for loan forgiveness for lawyers to require the best representation for children.

"Almost one-third of practicing dependency attorneys graduated from law school with over $75,000 in outstanding loans and 44 percent of them currently owe over $50,000," said Schiff. "High turnover among dependency attorneys has led to a dearth of experienced lawyers who can maintain valuable relationships with their young clients."

In a broken system where children find few adults who are committed to helping them, foster children desperately need attorneys to look after their interests.

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This is not legal advice;hopefully wisdom

To put it in simple terms…when the authorities ARE the perpetrators and the perpetrators ARE the authorities, there is no earthly justice or recourse, at the end of the day (unless the American people wake up).

Therefore, those who have achieved the highest levels of power seek to ‘enjoy’ the most grievous and extreme injustices. For many of those in the highest circles of power, the greatest statement of power is to perpetrate the greatest possible injustice…the savage, brutal traumatization and abuse of an innocent child.
http://themurkynews.blogspot.com/ MattTwoFour

"Ultimately, the law is only as good as the judge" --- D.X. Yue, 2005, in "law, reason and judicial fraud"
http://www.parentalrightsandjustice.com/index.cgi?ctype=Page;site_id=1;objid=45;curloc=Site:1

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