January 2022
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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Recent CFCC Activities Focus on the Needs of TCP Families and Families at Risk of Interactions with the Child Welfare/Criminal Justice Systems |
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The Truancy Court Program's Return to City Schools Revealed the Critical Challenges Facing Baltimore's Families and Children |
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After nearly 1.5 years of virtual programming, CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP) team was excited to return to Baltimore City Public schools for the Fall 2021 session in-person, working with 69 students and their families at: the Baltimore Design School (middle/high), Belair-Edison Middle School, Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School, Furley Elementary School and Mt. Royal Elementary/Middle School.
Resuming in-person programming created new challenges for the TCP team, including the need to develop new metrics for measuring students’ progress in the move from virtual to classroom attendance. The team also saw firsthand the impact that the pandemic and its associated financial, health and social impacts are having on families’ well-being and students’ ability to thrive and learn. Many students and their families had immediate needs, which the TCP team made their first priority. Some of these issues included:
- A high school student, whose chronic migraines caused her to miss school and fall behind in several classes, worked with the TCP Team to access health services and build strategies for how to catch up on missed assignments.
- A high school freshman, after suffering the loss of several key family members, learned trauma-informed strategies for self-care and focus through the TCP.
- An elementary school student's family received TCP assistance in accessing special education services to help him with reading comprehension, as well as legal help to formalize a co-parenting agreement that would provide more stability in his family life.
Visit TCP’s blog to read more about the Fall 2021 TCP session, including information on the workshops our team offered on School Choice and career planning/job search, and guest speakers for the Fall 2021 session. In that story, you can also learn more about the challenges faced by the students and families in Baltimore City Public Schools, and the impact of TCP’s holistic approach.
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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 the 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 about $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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Save the Date
Know Your Rights Webinar: School Discipline, Suspensions and Expulsions, Special Education
The CFCC TCP Team will offer a webinar for families in our community on March 3. It will explain the rights of parents/caregivers and students related to school discipline. Watch for more detail in the February issue of CFCC Connections.
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CFCC’s Executive Director, Rebecca Stahl, co-published , “ Preparing Your Client for a Custody Evaluation” with Dr. Philip Stahl in the March 2021 issue of ABA Family Law Section Family Advocate. She also presented to law school staff on “Affirming LGBTQ+ Folks: Pronouns and More” for the – presentation for the UBalt Law Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) in October 2021. She recently accepted a role as an Observer for the Uniform Law Commission’s Committee on Child Participation in Family Court Proceedings. |
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Shanta Trivedi also published “My Family Belongs to Me: A Child’s Constitutional Right to Family Integrity” in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, arguing that children should assert their constitutional right to family integrity in legal proceedings against their parents which could result in the destruction of their family units—including criminal, child welfare and immigration proceedings. She also conducted a December 14, 2021, training for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender on the harm of removal. In late January, she also appeared on the ACLU’s At Liberty weekly podcast on family separation with Lee Gelernt, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. For more on Prof. Trivedi’s publications and presentations, visit her UBalt faculty page.
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CFCC Webinar Focuses on “Preserving Families Through Primary Prevention”
As part of the UB Law in Focus series, CFCC Faculty Director, Prof. Shanta Trivedi, will lead a roundtable on proactive approaches to addressing issues that could result in a child’s removal from the family and subsequent placement in foster care. Joining Prof. Trivedi to discuss how such primary prevention programs work and the role of lawyers will be Prof. Matthew Fraidin, of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law; Nena Villamar, Chief Attorney of the Parental Defense Division at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender; and Christopher Church, Senior Director for Strategic Consulting at Casey Family Programs. A companion initiative to this webinar is CFCC's new guide to resources within the community for at-risk families. See “Family Law Resources for You” below for more detail on this important resource for families.
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CFCC Presents at the California Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) 2022 Conference
February 4–6, 2022
Rebecca Stahl, CFCC Executive Director, will present with Dr. Philip Stahl on “A High Conflict Case-Trauma Impact on Memory, Children, Parents & the Courts.”
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CFCC Art Contest Requests Submissions by BCPS and UB Law Students
Baltimore City Public School students and members of the University of Baltimore Law School community are invited to submit original artwork for CFCC’s inaugural Community Art Contest. All submitted artwork will be displayed at CFCC’s Fall Symposium, and prizes will be awarded to one winner in each category – BCPS students and UBalt law students. Check out our CFCC blog for details.
Contest Guidelines:
- Artwork should respond to the question: "What does family mean to you?"
- Due date: March 18, 2022.
- Submissions can be in any medium but should be no larger than 8.5” x 11”.
- Questions and entries can be emailed to cfcc@ubalt.edu.
- All submissions must include the artist’s name, contact information (email address and phone number), school affiliation and grade/year.
- Student artists or teachers who would like to arrange an in-person drop-off should contact Spencer Hall at shall2@ubalt.edu.
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CFCC is Releasing a New Community Resource Guide for At-Risk Families
Recognizing that families living in poverty are at greatest risk of involvement with the child welfare system and/or criminal legal system, CFCC is developing a comprehensive guide to community-based resources that families can access for help with issues that could lead to family separation through the foster care system or parental incarceration, including those offering services in languages other than English, and those which serve the LGBTQ+ community. Learn more about the Community Resource Guide for Families on our blog.
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Does Your Organization Offer Services? If your organization provides services for low-income or other marginalized members of our community, email us with information on your organization at cfcc@ubalt.edu.
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CFCC’s Benchbook for Family Courts on Substance Use Disorders (Benchbook) – Second Edition provides valuable insight into the science of addiction, the treatment of 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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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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