Child Welfare Law Training and Resources

As 2025 comes to a close, the Children’s Commission compiled a list of trainings and resources that are available to support high-quality legal and judicial practice in child welfare law. Please see below for a compilation of resources created by or in partnership with the Children’s Commission.

On-Demand Training and MCLE

The Children’s Commission produces regular online training content and obtains Texas Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) and Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS) credit for child welfare law practitioners across the state. These archived webinars are available for viewing on the Commission’s On-Demand Training and MCLE webpage at no cost.

Tool Kits for Attorneys

The Children's Commission also publishes Tool Kits for Attorneys Representing Parents and Children and for Attorneys Representing the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) in Child Welfare Cases. The tool kits outline the state and federal statutory requirements for attorneys handling child welfare cases and include practice topics relevant to the representation of each client base.

Attorney-Client Materials

The Children’s Commission’s Legal Representation Committee produced several resources to assist attorneys with explaining the child welfare system and an attorney’s duties to their client.

Materials for children, youth, and young adults include:

• a brochure explaining the role of the attorney for the child or youth in a child welfare case;
• Sam and the Search for Spots, a coloring book designed for children ages 6-12, English and Spanish; and
• a video series explaining the attorney-client relationship, created in collaboration with the Texas Network of Youth Services Young Adult Leadership Council. 

Materials for parents include:

• a brochure explaining the role of the attorney for a parent involved in a child welfare case;
• a Fathers’ Rights pamphlet;
• a poster highlighting the rights of incarcerated parents in a CPS case; and
• a series of handouts and videos created in collaboration with Texas CASA explaining the roles of the individuals involved in a child welfare case.

TexasBarCLE

In partnership with the State Bar of Texas Child Protection Law Section, the Children’s Commission, and other partners, TexasBarCLE produces courses on child welfare and related issues. Child welfare-related courses are available at a reduced rate to court-appointed attorneys representing children and/or parents on the TexasBarCLE’s Online Classroom. To view the list of MCLE courses, please visit the TexasBarCLE Online Classroom and select Child Welfare Law as the search topic.

Texas District and County Attorneys Association (TDCAA) Fundamentals of Child Welfare Law Online Training

In collaboration with the Children’s Commission, TDCAA maintains an online training course entitled Fundamentals of Child Welfare Law, which covers the essentials of child welfare law for attorneys representing DFPS in a six-part video course. This course is currently available for free to attorneys representing DFPS in child welfare cases in the catalog listings found on the TDCAA online training webpage.

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For a complete list of Resource Letters, please visit the Children's Commission webpage. Information provided by the Children’s Commission should not be read as a commentary by the Supreme Court of Texas or any other court. The Children’s Commission website is not equipped to facilitate dialogue or conversation about matters related to the information in this communique. For more information about the Children’s Commission, please visit our website.

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