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March 2023
CFCC Connections is the newsletter of the University of Baltimore School of Law Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC).
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CFCC’s Executive Director looks back on four years at the Center as they prepare for a new chapter. | |
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By Rebecca Stahl, CFCC Executive Director
My first experience as CFCC’s Deputy Director was participating in the Center’s annual symposium four days after I started. That day in April 2019 was an incredible opportunity to meet the people in Baltimore and beyond, who shared our vision to improve the lives of children and families. I have known that I wanted to focus on policy and advocacy since law school. After more than eight years practicing law, I was excited to join CFCC.
On March 8, I am taking the next major step in my career-long journey as a lawyer and healing professional focused on serving youth. I am leaving CFCC to become the interim executive director of Somatic Experiencing International, an organization on whose board I have served since 2018. Michele Hong will serve as interim executive director at CFCC while a full executive search occurs.
These past four years have been a time of deep learning and deep connection for me. They have given me the opportunity to reflect on my own work and the way different systems operate in society. CFCC has been the perfect place to navigate the challenges of recent years with compassion, care, and vision. While I cannot share everything that has happened, I want to reflect on some particular highlights.
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January 17, 2023 – CFCC and the Center for Criminal Justice Reform co-hosted a discussion of Kristin Henning’s new book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. Henning is the Blume Professor of Law and director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law. | |
January 20, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi presented her paper “How Asking for Help Harms Survivors” at the Centering Family Violence Roundtable at the University of Virginia School of Law. | |
January 27, 2023 – CFCC Executive Director Rebecca Stahl presented the webinar “Vicarious Trauma and Judges’ Self Care” at the Administrative Office of the Courts. | |
UB Law in Focus Discussion Series | The UB Law in Focus Discussion Series connects faculty, staff, students, and alumni to engage in collaborative reflection around important topics and issues facing the legal community. More of a dialogue than a lecture, each session invites a speaker or small panel to share their insights on a relevant topic, followed by Q&A with attendees. | | | |
February 9, 2023 – Rebecca Stahl presented the training “Trauma-Informed Practices for Legal Professionals” at the Pro Bono Resource Center in Baltimore. | |
February 14, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi was quoted in the article “Maryland Eyes Law to Protect Domestic Violence Survivors from ‘Failure to Protect’ Charge,” by Sara Tiano in The Imprint Youth and Family News. Shanta provided testimony on behalf of the law, which, if passed, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. | |
The Charles Crane Family Foundation continued its nearly two decades of support for the operation of CFCC’s Truancy Court Program with a grant of $60,000 this year. The foundation was CFCC's first donor in 2004. We thank the Charles Crane Family Foundation for their unwavering support of CFCC. | |
Daniel L. Hatcher presents "Injustice, Inc.: How America's Justice System Commodifies Children and the Poor" in conversation w/ Shanta Trivedi | An unflinching exposé of how the family, juvenile, and criminal justice systems monetize the communities they purport to serve and trap them in crushing poverty. Injustice, Inc. exposes the ways in which justice systems exploit America's history of racial and economic inequality to generate revenue on a massive scale. | | | |
March 10, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi will present her paper “The Adoption and Safe Families Act Should Not be Salvaged: The Case for Repeal" at the Poverty Law Conference at University of California Berkeley School of Law. | |
March 21, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi will participate in a judicial training coordinated by Hon. Cathy Serrette entitled “Cultural Considerations in Family Law,” with Maria Nenutzka Villamar, Dr. Denise McCain, and Nolanda Kirby. | |
March 23, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi will conduct a virtual training for the Children’s Law Center of California on the harm of removal. | |
March 30, 2023 – Shanta Trivedi will make a presentation at a University of Connecticut School of Law symposium entitled “Are Parental Rights Always in the Best Interest of Children? Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Conflict over Parental Rights.” | |
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Also Forthcoming from Shanta Trivedi in 2023
- “Surviving the ‘Child Welfare’ System,” a chapter with Erin Carrington Smith, will appear in the book Policing and Providing: The Child Welfare System as Poverty Governance (NYU Press).
- “Mandating Support for Survivors” in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law.
- “The Adoption and Safe Families Act Cannot Be Salvaged,” in the Family Court Review.
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Please Contribute to TCP Family Food Baskets | |
CFCC operates the Truancy Court Program (TCP) in some of Baltimore’s most underserved neighborhoods. Working to re-engage students and families with their schools, the TCP identifies and addresses the reasons why students are missing school, including violence, poverty, poor health, substance use, grief, homelessness and unemployment, to name a few. Many of our families rely on school meals that are not available when students are not in school. As spring break approaches, your donation will help us provide food baskets to as many of our TCP students and families as possible. Each basket costs approximately $40 and will include enough food to share with the student's household. Thank you for helping to support Baltimore City students and their families during this difficult time!
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ICYMI
In Case You Missed It
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Links to Past CFCC Events & Webinars | |
Is the Indian Child Welfare Act Unconstitutional? a UB Law in Focus webinar moderated by Shanta Trivedi on February 7, 2023. You can access the video here. | |
Childhood Poverty is Not Just a Moral Failure; it’s a Policy Choice, an event hosted by CFCC with the Maryland Child Alliance on November 15, 2022, featured presentations by Nate Golden, Aubrey Edwards-Luce, and Windy Davis. You can access the video here.
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Keynote conversation with University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Dorothy Roberts and Andrea James, Founder and Executive Director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls and Founder of Families for Justice as Healing, moderated by CFCC Faculty Director Shanta Trivedi
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Incarceration and Its Devastating Impact on Families with the panelists Yanet Amanuel, Director of Public Policy at the ACLU of Maryland; Kristin Henning, Blume Professor of Law at Georgetown Law; Shari Ostrow Scher, Founder and Executive Director of Children of Incarcerated Parents; Nicole Hanson-Mundell, Executive Director of Out for Justice; and moderator Odeana Neal, Professor at University of Baltimore School of Law.
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Promoting Family Integrity while Ensuring Children’s Welfare with the panelists Jamar Barnes, advocate, scholar, and former foster youth; Marty Guggenheim, formerly Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law; Stephanie Franklin, President and CEO of the Franklin Law Group; Nate Golden, Baltimore City Public School teacher and President of Maryland Child Alliance; Joyce McMillan, Founder and Executive Director for JMAC for Families; and moderator Shereen A. White, Director of Advocacy and Policy at Children’s Rights
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For Families: CFCC's Community Resource Guides
Recognizing that families living in poverty are at greatest risk of involvement with the child welfare system and/or criminal legal system, CFCC publishes comprehensive guides to community-based resources offering help with issues that often lead to family separation through the foster care system or parental incarceration. We will publish new issue-targeted guides on a regular basis.
Does your organization provide services for low-income or other marginalized members of our community? Email us with information on your organization at [email protected].
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CFCC’s Benchbook for Family Courts on Substance Use Disorders – Second Edition provides valuable insight into the science of addiction, the treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs), how SUDs affect children and families in many family law cases and how family courts can intervene in ways that lead to better outcomes. The good news is that with a recognized neurobiological basis for substance use disorders, there is potential for recovery. Evidence-based interventions can prevent harmful substance use and related problems, and the courts have considerable power to influence individuals suffering from these disorders.
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CFCC Founding Director Barbara Babb's 2019 book, Caring for Families in Court: An Essential Approach to Family Justice, co-authored with Judy Moran, is available in paperback. The authors propose an approach to family justice system reform that envisions the family court as a "care center," by blending existing theories surrounding court reform in family law with an ethic of care and narrative practice.
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About CFCC
The Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) supports families, communities and the justice system to improve the lives of children and families and to strengthen communities.
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