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Save the Date: CLC ANNUAL CELEBRATION & BENEFIT ON SEPTEMBER 12!
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SAVE THE DATE!

Children's Law Center 18th Annual Benefit & Celebration
September 12, 2013
5:30 - 8:00 PM
Windows on Minnesota 
50th Floor, IDS Center
80 South 8th St.
Please RSVP by September 4th at 651-644-4438 or
click HERE to reserve your space.

Children's Law Center of Minnesota Appoints Lilia Panteleeva as Executive Director


Children’s Law Center of Minnesota is pleased to announce the appointment of Lilia Panteleeva as its Executive Director, effective July 1, 2013. Read More

Help Us Out!

Numbers Holding Steady for Cases Assigned to CLC

June was busy enough to show that cases were opening as quickly as volunteer attorneys were able to represent new clients.  These numbers are expected to grow in the later summer months, creating an even greater need for attorneys who are able to represent youth in need.

There will be an upcoming training for new volunteer attorneys, so please spread the word to your colleagues that have not been trained and are interested in this rewarding pro bono work.  This training may coincide with a Paralegal/Legal Assistant training to better help volunteer attorneys in their cases.

When you are assigned to a new client, you will also be signed up to receive all electronic filings for that matter.  There are a lot of changes that are being made to work out the glitches of the e-File and e-Serve system.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Attention Current Volunteer Attorneys: CLC needs your help!

CLC is currently building its volunteer attorney capacity in St. Louis (Duluth) and Stearns (St. Cloud) Counties to provide legal representation to more foster children who need and deserve it.  We need your help!  If you have any attorney friends, law school classmates, or other attorney acquaintances practicing in St. Louis (Duluth) or Stearns (St. Cloud) Counties you think may be interested, please contact Shannon Mitchell at smitchell@clcmn.org or (651) 644-4438 with their contact information.  CLC thanks you for the great work you do and any assistance you can provide in our expansion into St. Louis and Stearns Counties.   

New Emeritus Attorney Program

Effective July 1, 2013, Minnesota attorneys who have filed retirement affidavits will now have the option of providing pro bono representation as “emeritus lawyers.” Participating attorneys will not be required to pay annual lawyer registration fees.  Every three years, program participants will need to complete 5 CLE credits (3 standard, 1 elimination of bias, and 1 ethics) relevant to the practice area in which they elect to volunteer, and submit an affidavit of emeritus status.  Participants must volunteer with an approved legal services provider.  As a grantee of Minnesota Legal Services Advisory Committee, Children’s Law Center is an approved provider! Watch for updates as CLC develops its emeritus lawyer training program!

Minnesota Supreme Court Order Establishing Emeritus Program
Legal Services Coalition News Release (April 3, 2013)


Volunteer Corner

Practice POINT: Trama-informed Developments in Minnesota's Child Welfare System 

It has been noted that possibly no other child-serving system sees a higher percentage of children with a trauma history than the child welfare system.  Today, there are approximately 400,000 children in foster care throughout the country.  Children who enter the child welfare system are typically affected by physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, and/or domestic violence.  As a result, children in foster care experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at six times the rate of the general population and nearly twice the rate of Iraq and Vietnam War veterans.   If they are removed from their homes, they often face further traumas that are caused by efforts to remedy the situation.  In these situations, “children’s relationships with caregivers and other family members are ruptured, they are uprooted from friendships and familiar surroundings, and their daily routines are destroyed.”  As a partial result of this trauma, “children in the child welfare system, especially those in foster care, have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than the general population.” Read More.

New Rulings on the Expungement of Juvenile Records

On May 22, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a pair of contentious opinions that have implications for juveniles and young adults seeking to expunge their records in Minnesota.  The first, State v. M.D.T., held that a district court exceeded its inherent authority by ordering the expungement of criminal records in the executive branch. The second, In the Matter of the Welfare of J.P.P., held that Minn. Stat. § 260B.198 only allows for the expungement of the final court order adjudicating the juvenile delinquent and not any associated records.  For full case summaries Read More.  

ICWA: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (Baby Veronica) U.S. Supreme Court Decision

On June 25, 2013 the United States Supreme Court held in a 5-4 decision that ICWA does not prevent the termination of a biological Indian father’s parental rights who never had legal or physical custody of the Indian child and had not developed a relationship with the child.  The Court explained that Congress’ purpose in enacting ICWA was to prevent the break-up of Indian families by terminating parental rights too quickly.  ICWA, the Court said, protects parents whose “continued custody of the child” would be disrupted by an adoption.  The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the South Carolina Supreme Court to determine what will happen next since ICWA was not applicable to this case.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal law that sets out procedural rules that must be followed before parental rights can be terminated over a child who qualifies as “Indian.”  The 1978 law was passed to address a century of forced removal of Indian children from their homes and communities at alarmingly high rates and placed them in boarding schools and in later decades with white families, which were perceived to be better than their families and tribal communities.  The law provides procedures that state courts must follow if an Indian child comes before them in a foster care, parental termination, or adoption proceeding. The parent and the child’s tribe must receive notice and the tribe in some instances may assume jurisdiction.  If parental rights are terminated, there are preferences to place the child with the child’s Indian relatives, a family within the tribe, or another Indian family.

ICWA: Preadoptive or Adoptive Proceedings Jurisdiction

Provides that in a pre-adoptive or adoptive proceeding for an Indian child, the court should transfer the proceeding to the jurisdiction of the tribe unless good cause can be shown. The law is a response to the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision In the Matter of the Welfare of the Child of R.S. and L.S., where the court denied a transfer of jurisdiction to a tribal court in a proceeding at the pre-adoptive stage. It will be effective August 1, 2013. Amends Minn. Stat. §260.771.

• Session Law 65
• Turtle Talk Story (Indigenous Law and Policy Center Blog Michigan State University College of Law) (May 21, 2013)
• MPR News Story (March 3, 2012)

Homeless Youth Act

The Homeless Youth Act will appropriate $2 million a year to fund a grant program addressing long-term youth homelessness, an increase from the previous funding of $119,000 per year. Services eligible to apply include outreach and drop-in programs, emergency shelters, integrated supportive housing, and transitional living programs. It also directs the commissioner for human services to prepare a biennial report on youth homelessness in Minnesota beginning in February 2015. Additionally, the terms "delinquent child" and "juvenile petty offender" are no longer applicable to youth ages 16 to 18 who have been sexually exploited. Rather, these youth fall under "child in need of protection or services." As such, the statute governing "juvenile prostitution" has been repealed. Modifies Section 256K.45.

Session Law 108, at 124.5
Minnesota House Session Daily (February 19, 2013)
Column by Rich Stanek, Hennepin County Sheriff (May 7, 2013)

Northstar Care for Children 

Northstar Care for Children consolidates Adoption Assistance, Relative Custody Assistance, and family foster care into one program that equalizes payments for these programs for children ages 6 and older. The program aims to boost Minnesota's foster care adoption rate. It also incorporates additional supplemental rates for those children with the highest needs. Northstar Care for Children is set to begin January 1, 2015. Minn. Stat. §256N.001 to 256N.28 (anticipated).

Session Law 108, at 648.29
MPR News Story (March 12, 2013)
DHS Press Release (March 12, 2013)

Juvenile Records Privacy

Effective for cases filed on or after January 1, 2014, 16 and 17-year olds’ juvenile felony records will no longer be accessible by the public except when (a) the prosecutor has filed for adult certification, (b) the prosecutor has requested the proceeding be an extended jurisdiction juvenile prosecution, or (c) the juvenile has been adjudicated delinquent of certain violent crimes. Previously, these records were public even if an initial felony charge was later reduced or dismissed. Modifies Minn. Stat. §260B.171.

Session Law 109
Minnesota House Session Daily  (May 16, 2013)

Adult High School Diploma

This law directs the Department of Education to create a standard adult high school diploma so individuals who successfully complete an approved adult basic education program can demonstrate the same competencies, knowledge, and skills as those receiving a regular high school diploma. This diploma will serve as an alternative to the GED, which consists of a series of standardized tests, because it will measure occupational and interpersonal as well as academic skills. It will be effective July 1, 2014. Modifies Minn. Stat. §124D.52.

Session Law 116, at 77.22
Minnesota House Session Daily (February 26, 2013)

More Updates Available at National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

NAMI Minnesota provides comprehensive coverage of legislative bills and efforts that may affect the lives of children with mental illness and their families in Minnesota. Their legislative updates website is located here.

After Foster Care: Looking at the Numbers by Weida Allen 

In August 2010, a law went into effect that stated if a youth was in a foster home placement and about to turn 18 years old, he or she may qualify for continued foster care benefits for housing and living expenses. If the foster youth is over 18-years-old and has left their foster home placement but wishes to receive services, they can contact the county that handled their case to see if they qualify for continued foster care benefits.

This law has affected a number of our clients. By December 2013, CLC will have had 44 clients age out of foster care because they have turned 21. These youths were represented by volunteer attorneys with the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota. In looking at the numbers and seeing where these 44 clients are today, their futures seem promising. Out of the 44 kids that have aged out of foster care, 41 have finished high school, 27 have gone on to a four-year college or two-year technical college, and 28 have jobs. For the attorneys that represented these young adults: The number of years these 44 clients received representation totals to be 243 years, which, on average is about 5.5 years of representation per client. 

Seeing and understanding the numbers is important because of the 44 kids represented, 38 had only one attorney, five had two attorneys, and one had three attorneys. It is also important to look at a breakdown of how many years some of the youths were represented by their attorneys: one for 13 years, two for 12 years, two for ten years, two for nine years, two for eight years, eight for seven years, four for six years, three for five years, ten for four years, two for three years, three for two years, and five for one year. Of these 44 young adults, only one left foster care at age 18 but within six months this young adult returned to foster care. These numbers show the hard work of our volunteer and staff attorneys and their commitment to representing these young adults. 

We at CLC are very proud of the youth that we represent and very thankful for the volunteer attorneys that take time out of their schedules to represent the youth that are in foster care - proving that they do not have to navigate the system alone.

In the next newsletter I will discuss how many youth CLC has represented that graduated from high school in 2013.


Announcements

Congratulations Graduates!

CLC would like to congratulate former client Sekou Moore on graduating from Viterbo University. Sekou graduated with a degree in Sociology. He is currently working at the North Community YMCA Teen Enrichment Center, as well as Nellie Stone Johnson’s after school Beacons program. His future plans are to get his masters in Servant Leadership at Viterbo University.

CLC would also like to celebrate a former client who graduated from Winona State University as a Page Scholar. This former client will be participating in a fall internship in Washington D.C.  We at CLC are very proud of these graduates and extend our best wishes to them.

Gray Plant Mooty Supports Greater MN Program

Gray Plant Mooty’s St. Cloud office has supported CLC as we expand our programming beyond the metro.  Gray Plant Mooty associate Hailey Harren, with the initial assistance of shareholder Kendra Hagen, helped CLC launch its pilot project in Stearns County when they took a CLC case in Fall 2011.  Hailey’s advocacy on behalf of these clients exemplifies Gray Plant Mooty’s strong culture of pro bono work in the St. Cloud area.  Recently, five attorneys from Gray Plant Mooty, including Hailey and Kendra, were recognized by the Minnesota Bar Association as North Star Lawyers for completing over 50 hours of pro bono work.  We thank Hailey and Kendra for their work with CLC and congratulate them on receiving North Star Lawyer status for their pro bono work in 2012.  


 Volunteer Spotlight

Special Thanks to Denise Rahne
 
CLC wishes to honor Denise Rahne at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi for her exceptional work with our clients.

Denise has been a long standing CLC volunteer attorney and is always willing to help a youth in need.   Denise started volunteering with CLC in 2003 and has never stopped.   Despite a heavy litigation caseload, Denise always makes time for her child clients.   For example, Denise represented a client who was placed in a residential treatment center (RTC) that the client hated and only wanted to return to her previous foster home.  The social worker on the case wanted to teach the client a lesson and refused to move the child out of the RTC.  Denise successfully advocated for the child’s return to her desired foster home placement.  From there, the client transitioned to independent living and graduated from high school.  Although the client has aged out of the foster care system, this client still updates Denise about her life.

In another case, Denise represented a youth who experienced substantial sexual abuse.  The client’s mother was unable to protect the client from this abuse.  The county sought to terminate the parental rights of the client’s parents, and Denise ensured that her client appeared either in person or by phone for her court hearings.  This required significant effort from Denise because often the client was in RTCs outside the metropolitan area.   The client was encouraged to address the Court at her hearings, and was able to tell the Court and the other parties about her frustration and sadness over her parents’ inaction and failure to parent.  The Court often praised the client for her progress and hard work in treatment.  These opportunities to address the Court helped Denise’s client in her therapy.   Denise’s advocacy also advanced CLC mission of promoting the rights and interests of children in the judicial and child welfare systems, in that, it reminded the Juvenile Court and other parties that children in child protection proceedings often have significant input and knowledge regarding their cases.  These children should be afforded the right to be heard and fully participate in the proceedings which affect their lives.   

For all her efforts on behalf of her CLC clients and youth in need of counsel, CLC is truly fortunate and extremely grateful to have Denise on our team.  THANKS DENISE!


Chad A. Kelsch Reflects on Representing a Child Client 

It has been my privilege to serve as Jack’s attorney through Children’s Law Center. For me, it has made me more grateful for the opportunities that were presented to me while growing up; opportunities that so many of these children simply do not have.  So many of us, I think, can take a stable home life for granted.  These children yearn for such an environment.  Some will never find it.

Jack unfortunately experienced severe emotional and physical abuse during his younger years, and he is dealing with the lifelong impact of those scars on an everyday basis as best he can.  I see my role as providing a beacon of positivity and hope, and advocating as best I can for the life that Jack wants to live.  This can prove challenging at times because Jack may not always know what is truly best for him given his tender age and his limited life experiences.  His priorities can sometimes conflict with the priorities of others.  I see my role as attempting to steer him in the best direction possible to maximize his potential.  Not an easy task, especially given my limited contact with him.

Children’s Law Center is a fantastic program that gives underprivileged children a say in their legal matters.  Having a voice is so important because it gives them a sense of empowerment, and with empowerment comes self-confidence and achievement.  We will never be able to erase the painful memories that so many of these children carry with them as a result of their discombobulated home lives, but CLC and the attorneys who perform so much of their work on a voluntary basis can make a meaningful difference in giving these kids a fighting chance going forward.  And through this gift, we all, more often than not, receive more than we give in return.

Chad A. Kelsch is a partner at Fuller, Seaver, Swanson & Kelsch, P.A., a Twin Cities law firm providing legal services in the areas of personal and commercial bankruptcy, real estate law, and mechanic's liens. He has volunteered with Children's Law Center since 2008. 


Get Involved and Become a Volunteer Attorney! Learn more about CLC HERE.  

Whether you are an individual or part of a business or organization, you can help Children’s Law Center of Minnesota help foster children.

Scholarship Opportunities and Financial Funding for Foster Youth

Foster youth who are continuing their education/ training in 2014 need to start looking into their funding options. Click HERE to learn more about scholarships and other financial funding for foster youth.
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