|
June/July 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).
| |
CFCC Welcomes New Executive Director and Case Manager | |
This summer, CFCC welcomes Aubrey Edwards-Luce as the Center’s new executive director, and Christopher Kelly who joins our team in the newly created role of TCP Case Manager. | |
|
Aubrey Edwards-Luce is a zealous advocate for children, youth, and families. CFCC Faculty Director Shanta Trivedi said, “We could not be more excited to have Aubrey join us. Aubrey has spent her entire career advocating for children while emphasizing the importance of family and community. She is a natural collaborator and centers the voices of those with lived experience in legal systems in everything she does. We are grateful for her policy expertise and are so excited to work together to bring her ideas to life.” About joining CFCC, Aubrey said, “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to build on CFCC’s incredible legacy as we launch new efforts to prevent unnecessary court involvement by supporting children and families in ways that are responsive to their needs and experiences.” Read More.
| | |
Christopher Kelly returned to CFCC this spring as the TCP Case Manager. This new position was created to focus on outreach and advocacy, and to refer TCP students and families to service providers who can support the complex needs that can serve as obstacles to TCP students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. Read More. | |
|
|
By Rohina Zavala, TCP Coordinator
Graduation parties closed out the spring 2023 session of CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP), giving our team a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of the students participating in the TCP. This year was particularly impactful because we shifted the model in our two high schools to a one-year model, to support students in successful promotion to the next grade or graduation with their high school diploma.
| |
TCP Judge Mark Friedenthal, Esq. pictured with a Park Heights TCP Graduate | | |
|
Of the 18 high school seniors the TCP team worked with this school year 13 are graduating with their high school diploma—achieving a graduation rate comparable to the school’s average. At the beginning of the school year, most of these seniors had believed they would not be able to walk with their peers during the spring graduation ceremonies. After reviewing each student’s transcript, the TCP team met with these seniors to discuss how they could graduate from high school in the spring. For the majority of the students, a timely graduation would require them to pass every single course they are currently taking.
Among the 13 high school graduates, seven are continuing on to four-year universities, two are working full-time and attending Baltimore City Community College, three are working full-time, and one is attending a trade school. Of the five students not graduating this year, three plan on attending summer school (with personalized support from the TCP Mentor and Case Manager) and two plan on pursuing alternative GED programs, while working full-time to help support their families.
| | |
Students select gifts during TCP graduation | |
TCP Judge Jess Den Houter Signing Certificates | |
Rohina Zavala pictured with a Walter P. Carter Staff Member and Graduate | |
|
During the graduation ceremony at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, students shared their experiences in the TCP with family and peers. One student was moved to tears as she spoke about the comradery she felt with the other students in the room—something she noted was missing from her prior years at the school. Another thanked their fellow TCP participants, as well as the TCP team, for always providing a judgment-free zone where they were able to feel vulnerable and get the support they needed. One of the students thanked their fellow TCP participants, as well as the TCP team, for never giving up on him and “heckling me to get to class every day and show up to TCP every week.”
In a heartwarming speech, one student’s mother, aunt, and grandmother all echoed praises for every student and the TCP team. A student’s mother noted a significant shift in her child, one that marked a healthier relationship and kinder line of communication between the two of them.
To read Rohina’s full article, including Spring 2023 graduation statistics, highlights and challenges of the year, and a detailed case study of one student’s journey to success this school year, go to the CFCC blog.
| | |
2022–2023 Anthony “Bubba” Green Star Player Award Recipient | |
You Can Make a Difference for TCP Families | CFCC’s Truancy Court Program operates in some of Baltimore’s most underserved neighborhoods, where the reasons students miss school can include a wide range of stressors—including violence, poverty, poor health, substance use, grief, homelessness, and unemployment, to name a few. In addition to delivering spring break food baskets to families each year, CFCC maintains a fund to help students meet ongoing challenges that pop up throughout the year. Your contributions make this possible. Thank you for helping to support Baltimore City students and their families! | | | |
CFCC has received the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) 2023 Impact of the Year Award and will be honored during the organization’s 86th Annual Conference in Baltimore on July 18. | |
|
|
Upper Row: Shanta Trivedi, Katrice Williams, Christopher Kelly
Lower Row: Rohina Zavala, Michele Hong, Arion Alston and David Fishkin
| |
May 4, June 7, and June 14: Members of CFCC and the TCP team gave virtual presentations on how to operate the Truancy Court Program for judges and providers from Pima County, Arizona; for the Truancy Reduction Program: Show Up, Stand out (SUSO) with the District of Columbia Government, Executive Office of the Mayor; and to Pupil Personnel Workers (PPWs) from Carroll County, Maryland. | |
June 1 and 2: CFCC Faculty Director Shanta Trivedi participated in the Annual Meeting on Law and Society in San Juan, Puerto Rico. | |
On June 2, she participated in a roundtable entitled Focusing on Families: Centering Lived Experience in Teaching Family Policing, with Joyce McMillan of JMac for Families and Professors Dorothy Roberts (University of Pennsylvania), Sarah Katz (Temple University) and Sarah Lorr (Brooklyn Law School). | |
June 14–15: Shanta presented her paper, “Am I Still a Parent? The Harms to Parents when their Children Are Removed,” at the 2023 Family Law Scholars & Teachers Conference (FLSTC) at Boston College Law School. Shanta is currently co-chairing the FLSTC with Professor Meghan Boone (Wake Forest University). | |
June 21: CFCC hosted a TCP Judges’ Luncheon to celebrate the end of the school year, and awarded the Anthony “Bubba” Green Star Player Award to the Hon. Miriam Hutchins (ret.). | |
|
SIXTO CANCEL CONFIRMED AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR THE 2023 CFCC SYMPOSIUM
Please mark your calendar and plan to join us on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at the University of Baltimore School of Law for this important day-long symposium focused on The Harm of Removal to Children, Parents, and Communities.
| |
|
Sixto Cancel is the founder and CEO of Think of Us, Think of You (TOU), a research and design lab driving systematic change in child welfare policy and practice. Sixto has been named to Forbes list of Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs and recognized as a White House Champion of Change. Sixto has served as a Young Fellow at Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative since 2010, where he has played a key role in the initiative’s work of extending foster care permanency for older youth. Sixto’s tireless advocacy is informed by his own experience of the foster care system, which he discussed in his recent TED talk, "A foster care system where every child has a loving home.”
| |
ICYMI
In Case You Missed It
| |
Links to Past CFCC Events & Webinars | |
Injustice, Inc.: How America’s Justice System Commodifies Children and the Poor (University of California Press), on March 7, 2023, CFCC Faculty Director Shanta Trivedi participated in a discussion of Daniel L. Hatcher’s book, at Red Emma’s in Baltimore. The C-Span video of that event is available here. | |
|
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 and Windy Davis. You can access the video here. | |
|
CFCC Symposium on Protecting Family Integrity, Thursday September 29, 2022 – Recordings are now available on the University of Baltimore School of Law’s YouTube Channel:
-
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
-
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.
-
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
| |
|
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.
Access and download our Community Resource Guides here.
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.
| |
|
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.
The Benchbook for Family Courts on Substance Use Disorders is available for $29 as an e-book or PDF. Download your order form here.
| |
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. | |
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.
| | | | |
