Representing LGBTQ+ Clients: A Conversation with Currey Cook, Part One

Did you know that one in five children in the child welfare system identify as LBGTQ+? In this two part episode, Angela and Bill interview Currey Cook. Currey is the Director of the Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project and Counsel of the National Headquarters of Lambda Legal in New York. He co-authored Safe Havens: Closing the Gap Between Recommended Practice for Transgender and Gender-Expansive Youth in Out-of-Home Care, which offers practical tips to children’s lawyers working with the LGBTQ+ population.

It’s no surprise that a large percentage of foster children are LGBTQ+. Your caseload undoubtedly contains those who identify as being within this population, whether you know it or not. Prejudices and stigma place added stress on them as they work their way through the foster care system. Consequently, it is important for lawyers to ensure these children’s legal rights are protected. Doing so will ensure they are treated fairly and compassionately while in the foster care system.

3 Tips for Thriving in the Profession

In this episode, Angela talks with Bill about how he has continued to thrive in his children’s law practice. Bill’s suggestions have worked for him and we think they can work for you too.

The Art of Building Trust with Your Client

The four of us are back together to share tips on how to speak with your child clients. The number one question we get from new attorneys, and sometimes experienced attorneys, is how to communicate with our child clients. The ethics rules require us to treat our child clients close to the same as we treat our adult clients. However, we need to recognize the maturity of our clients. We don’t approach every 5-year-old the same. Some are surprisingly mature and some are not.

In this podcast, we give you tips on how to talk with your clients. We don’t rehash the research and the many articles written. Instead, we encourage you from experience. If you have ever doubted yourself in your communication or ever wanted to give up on a client from feeling ignored, know that we have all had these feelings. It’s your persistence and your listening that will help your client gain the trust she needs to open up to you. And to give you the confidence to ensure you are understood.

Reflections from the Bench: An Interview with Justice Barbara Pariente, Part Two

In this two part episode, retired Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente reflects on her career as a leading judicial voice for the protection and enhancement of the legal rights of children and their corresponding need for emotional stability.

While on the bench, she supported the establishment of processes that would minimize the trauma children suffer when removed from their families. She pushed the Florida bench to become a trauma-responsive, developmentally informed court.

She also championed lawyers who represented foster children, recognizing the hard, emotional work they put in to assist these children. She envisions a thriving children’s law office to include the pairing of child trauma specialists with appropriately trained lawyers for children.

This episode is not just for policy wonks. Justice Pariente inspires children’s lawyers to be creative and steadfast in their representation of vulnerable clients and their needs.

For more information on the family court trauma and child development toolkit mentioned in the episode, please see this link, https://www.flcourts.org/Resources-Services/Court-Improvement/Family-Courts/Family-Court-Basics2/Family-Court-Tool-Kit-Trauma-and-Child-Development

Reflections from the Bench: An Interview with Justice Barbara Pariente, Part One

In this two-part episode, retired Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente reflects on her career as a leading judicial voice for the protection and enhancement of the legal rights of children and their corresponding need for emotional stability.

This episode is not just for policy wonks. Justice Pariente inspires children’s lawyers to be creative and steadfast in their representation of vulnerable clients and their needs.

HBO Documentary “Foster”: Behind the Scenes with the Producer and Director

In this episode, Jim interviews Oscar® winners Deborah Oppenheimer and Mark Jonathan Harris about the new HBO documentary “Foster” which begins airing Tuesday, May 7 at 8:00pm. The documentary offers insights from children’s lawyers and others in its presentation to upend the myths of foster care. It also highlights the work of the Children’s Law Center of California.

Avoiding Landmines on Permanency Road

BOOM! That quick trip to permanency just came to a screeching halt—for a reason you didn’t expect. Or one you chose to ignore. Instead, it’s now a very long and arduous journey causing emotional harm to your client. In this podcast, we review a few of the most common obstacles to getting your client to permanency within the legal time frame. You will learn some of the solutions we have used successfully over the years.

Life in the Fast Lane – Permanency Focused Advocacy

The problem most children’s lawyers face is having enough time to do what needs to be done to help all of our clients. High caseloads, lack of support, and backed-up dockets are just some of the stoppers we have all experienced in representing all of our clients effectively and ethically. In this podcast, we talk specifics about one of the solutions to this most vexing conundrum. By keeping your focus on your clients’ number one legal problem, you can close your cases faster thereby lessening the potential emotional harm your clients suffer.

What is a Family?

What is a family? There’s a fear that when our clients turn 18, they will learn that the families they thought they had, do not exist. There was never an emotional connection. There was only a legal one. The heartbreak of this discovery sends a young adult into the world with no emotional or practical support. Despite a child’s reliance on a parent never truly ending, we send many a child into the future alone. This is a failure not only to our client, but also to our role as a children’s attorney. In this podcast, we share tips to understanding how you can help your client find their family—their forever family. This is not a podcast about adoption selection, but one about all kids in care, whatever their goal.

Five Things You Should NOT Do

In this episode, the hosts discuss five common mistakes that are made by children’s lawyers. This is primarily a discussion about the relationship between the lawyer and the child, and the ways we inadvertently undermine our efforts.

Game Changer: IV-E Funding with Melissa Carter

In this episode, Angela Orkin and Melissa Carter discuss an exciting new federal funding opportunity for children’s lawyers.

The Impacts of Separating Children from Their Parents

In this episode, Angela, Bill, Jim and John will discuss the impacts of separating children from their families, and legal strategies to protect clients who must be removed from their parents.

Five Things Every Children’s Lawyer Should Do

A discussion of five foundational practice points that every children’s lawyer should know. These are practical actions that, while easy to overlook, can make a big difference in your advocacy and your relationship with your client.

Introductory Episode

This episode is a brief introduction to the hosts and the show.