Representing Children in Families

Children’s attorneys play an important role in seeking legal and procedural reforms to improve the quality and provision of justice for children.  Attorneys play this role when representing individual children and in policy making fora.  In each of these contexts, children’s attorneys can advocate for child-centered, respectful and non-stereotypical approaches to children and families.  Attorneys should, in policy matters and in individual cases when their clients consent, work collaboratively with others who share similar concerns for children and their families.  The recommendations in this part urge children’s attorneys to take, or continue to take, the lead in promoting child-centered justice and to venture beyond the more conventional direct representation of children to do so.