July 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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Truancy Court Program: Spring 2022 Session in Review |
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Engaging parents, expanding tutoring, offering practical tools for success, and honoring students’ experience and insights through art. |
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By Rohina Zavala, CFCC Truancy Court Program Coordinator
During the Spring 2022 session, CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP) worked with 85 students and their families at five Baltimore City Public Schools: Furley Elementary School, Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School, Mt. Royal Elementary/Middle School, the Academy for College and Career Exploration (ACCE) (middle/high school), and the Baltimore Design School (BDS) (middle/high school).
For the first time since returning to in-person learning, the TCP team was able to invite parents and family members to graduation ceremonies at each school! Students graduate from the program if they have shown a 65% decrease in absences and/or tardies, improved two or more of their grades since participating in the TCP, or shown significant personal development under the direction of the TCP team. Applying these measures, 52 of the 85 participating students (61%) met these requirements and graduated from the TCP in Spring 2022.
We are proud of all of our TCP students. They faced much bigger hurdles than usual in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, especially during and immediately following the January surge of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Below are some highlights from the TCP’s Spring 2022 session. You can read the full article, with details from the Spring session and feedback from judges and students, on CFCC’s blog.
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TCP Funders Are Invested in Student Success
The Truancy Court Program has received ongoing support from visionary funders since its inception more than 15 years ago. Funders this year have included the Abell Foundation; the Charles Crane Family Foundation; the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth, and Victim Services; the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts; The William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Foundation; OSI-Baltimore; the Miles White Beneficial Society of Baltimore City; and the Saul Zaentz Foundation. We are so grateful for this continued support. Thank you to our funders!
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Spring 2022 TCP graduates at the Academy for College and Career Exploration with volunteer TCP Judge David Fishkin, TCP Restorative Practices Intern Chris Kelly, and ACCE School Community Coordinator Pierre Sanders. |
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TCP graduates can select from an assortment of graduation gifts to honor their achievement.
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TCP families play Giant Jenga at the Furley Family Fun Night. |
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Sixth grade students at Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School share pizza and work on their CFCC Art Contest entries. |
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A fourth grade student at Furley Elementary School works on her submission for the CFCC Art Contest. |
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TCP Mentor Arion Alston tutors a group of sixth grade students at Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School. |
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Keynote Speakers Announced for Symposium on Protecting Family Integrity
Save the Date – Thursday, September 29, 2022
Dorothy Roberts and Andrea James will offer a keynote conversation to kick off CFCC’s symposium on protecting family integrity. The symposium’s multidisciplinary, interactive panels will focus on two critical challenges that can lead to the separation of children from their families—parental incarceration and interventions by child welfare authorities.
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Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania and an award-winning author and expert on the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues concerning reproduction, bioethics, and child welfare. Her latest book, TORN APART: How the child welfare system destroys black families—and how abolition can build a safer world, will be on sale, and she will sign copies at the event.
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Watch the Symposium web page for more detail on panels, speakers, and a registration link when they become available.
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In April, TCP Attorney Spencer Hall stepped into a new leadership role with the Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline (CRSD). She now serves as co-chair of CRSD alongside Emily Ames-Messinger of the Positive
Schools Center at University of Maryland, Baltimore. CRSD advocates for fair, equitable, and restorative discipline practices in Maryland schools.
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June 1–June 28 – CFCC Executive Director Rebecca Stahl presented the following in-person and virtual trainings in June: “Affirming LGBTQ+ Folks: Pronouns and More” for Joseph C. Briscoe Academy and Access Art Baltimore; “Trauma and Toxic Stress Skills” for Living Classrooms (UA House), Patterson Park Public Charter School After School Program, Access Art Baltimore, and The Family League Summer Institute; and “Implicit Bias from a Somatic Perspective” for Access Art Baltimore.
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June 16 and June 22 – TCP Attorney Spencer Hall presented “Supporting Homeless Students Under McKinney-Vento Act” for Patterson Park Public Charter School; and “Youth Employment for Community School Coordinators” at Great Kids' Farm, as a part of the Summer Institute 2022: Leveling Up for Community School Coordinators”.
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June 22 – CFCC Program Administrative Specialist Katrice Williams presented “Resume Building for Students" at Great Kids' Farm, as a part of the Summer Institute 2022: Leveling Up for Community School Coordinators”.
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June 26 – CFCC Faculty Director, Shanta Trivedi testified before the Montana State Legislature Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee about the harm of removing children from their parents and how different states integrate consideration of these harms into child welfare decision-making. |
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August 22–24 – CFCC team members will present three sessions at the National Association of Counsel for Children’s 45th National Child Welfare Law Conference. Faculty Director Shanta Trivedi will present the Tuesday morning plenary address, “The Constitution Applies to Child Welfare Cases.” Executive Director Rebecca Stahl will present “Trauma-Informed Interviewing” with Arizona-based professional coach and somatic experiencing practitioner Cynthia Bowkley. Truancy Court team members Arion Alston, Spencer Hall, and Rohina Zavala, with Deputy Director Michele Hong, will present “Lessons from Truancy Prevention.” Listen to this podcast for a preview of the “Trauma-Informed Interviewing” presentation. |
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ICYMI
In Case You Missed It
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Links to Past CFCC Events & Webinars |
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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 cfcc@ubalt.edu.
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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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