Goodbye 2012-Welcome to 2013!
Happy New Year! Big things are happening that help foster youth this January! The Uniterrupted Scholars Act was signed into law, which will make it much easier for a child's school records to follow them through the foster care system, and President Obama passed legislation to permanently extend the Adoption Tax Credit which will continue to make it easier for more Americans to adopt.
Children's Law Center had an incredible year in 2012. We provided free legal representation to 570 Minnesota foster youth, which is over one hundred more youth than we were privileged to help in 2011. We were able to do this with the support of over three hundred volunteers and volunteer attorneys. We increased our representation team in 2012, and had fifty-two more volunteer attorneys providing pro bono representation to CLC foster youth than we did in 2011. We were also able to grow our staff in 2012 to handle our increased case load. We hired our first ever paralegal, added a third full time staff attorney, and were able to increase both of our part time social workers from three days a week to four days a week!
To our 2012 Donors and Grantors: We are so grateful you have responded to our need for help with such compassion and generosity. For 2012, we exceeded our budget goals for Minnesota and national foundations, law firm and law firm foundation support, and our goals for individual contributions. Thank you. We could not have done it without you. Your continued and much needed support of our programs provide stability, hope, and opportunity to youth at-risk and youth in foster care. We can do our work only because of the ongoing support we receive from people like you. We hope we can continue to demonstrate to you that we value your support and that we use it wisely to provide the help that youth in crisis need.
New Faces at CLC!
Heather Wolfgram
CLC is thrilled to welcome Heather Wolfgram to our team as CLC’s new Director of Development. Heather has a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Minnesota. She has 10 years experience in non-profit capacity building including: coalition building, community organizing, fund development, research, and evaluation. Heather has experience as both a direct and community practice social worker in the fields of domestic violence, sexual assault, adoption, chemical dependency and child welfare.
In her most recent position as the Director of Development for Wayside House, Heather led the organization in formalizing their development program. She spearheaded the implementation of development procedures designed to ensure accurate donor and gift information, increased tracking of donor communications, donor segmentation, and a monthly reconciliation process. She also implemented the organization's first formal development plan and expanded development activities to include: a spring direct mail appeal, a fall electronic appeal, and volunteer and donor appreciation and cultivation events. All of these efforts resulted in measurable results. In addition, Heather led the Fundraising Committee of the Board of Directors to significantly grow both the spring and fall fundraising events. Most important, she managed the organization’s donor portfolio which is used to build and repair relationships with key top level donors, corporate and community leaders, and foundation managers. The results of this endeavor included renewed and increased individual donor support, creation of a planned giving program, re-connections with lapsed high-level donors, increased sponsorship dollars, and increased foundation support. Heather began her journey at CLC in January. Welcome Heather!
Shannon Mitchell
Children’s Law Center also welcomed Shannon Mitchell to its staff on December 3, 2012 to serve as CLC's new AmeriCorps VISTA Attorney. Shannon grew up in Northwestern Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities), where she majored in political science. She went on to teach 6th grade for two years in the South Bronx of New York through the Teach for America program. In 2012, Shannon received her JD from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she participated in the Special Education Clinic and Environmental Moot Court Competition Team. In her free time, she enjoys watching baseball, cooking, and running.
 Shannon will be working with the Greater Minnesota Project Director and former VISTA Attorney, Anna Beadle to make CLC’s outreach and representation of clients in greater Minnesota sustainable. The project includes expanding CLC programming to provide direct legal representation for foster youth in Stearns and St. Louis Counties. Shannon’s work at CLC will also include state-wide outreach to attorneys and professionals working in the child protection system to promote CLC’s resources and expertise on legal issues, and best practices regarding working withyouth in the child protection system. By providing trainings and serving as resource for Minnesota professionals involved in the lives of foster children, CLC will indirectly improve outcomes in the lives of several thousand foster youth in other counties in Greater Minnesota.
Dede Carter
CLC is pleased to announce a new partnership with Ignation Volunteer Corps. Ignation pairs retired professionals with non-profit organizations who need experienced volunteers.  CLC is very excited to have Dede Carter, MSW, as our Ignation volunteer social worker for 2013. Dede Carter grew up in New York, and got her undergraduate degree from Skidmore College and her Masters in Social Work from Columbia University, with a concentration in program development. When Dede moved to Minnesota, she worked for Catholic Charities running "Seton Young Moms," a program serving unwed teen mothers. She was the director of the Bush Day Treatment Program, an outpatient after-school treatment program for at risk youth in transition. During the past 18 years, while raising her four children, Dede worked in various part time positions, including running support groups for parents of children with disabilities, doing crisis intervention for First Call for Help, FAMILINK, and facilitating Minnesota Early Learning Design (MELD) parenting support groups. Welcome Dede!
Volunteer Spotlight: Kathleen Moccio
CLC Volunteer Attorney Kathleen Moccio has been an immigration attorney for 25 years. She is an Assistant Public Defender at the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office, where she advises non-citizen clients of the immigration consequences of conviction. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas Law School, where she teaches immigration law. Kathleen trained as a volunteer attorney for CLC in 2012, and has represented two clients for CLC.
She also recently partnered with Peter Gorman, Assistant Public Defender at the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office, on a successful appeal on behalf of a CLC client. Read more about the case HERE. Congratulations Kathleen!
School Stability is Important for Youth.
In Minnesota, all children who are over seven years of age and eligible for foster care payments must be full-time elementary or secondary school students, unless they have graduated from secondary school. For those youth experiencing trauma and chaos, school can provide a safe haven and security that may not otherwise exist. One former foster care youth explained this phenomenon as follows:
"Education was one of the few stabilities that I had in my life. My hope would be that a family would fill that role, but for me, it was education. That was the greatest gift. Everything else was taken away from me, but education wasn’t. Even though it was a battle and a roller coaster, it was a sense of normalcy for me. It made the difference. For foster youth, who lose their culture, sense of self, and identity, education is their ticket out. It’s one of the few things no one can take away from them. Read MORE
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January 22, 2013 – CLC will present a training for teachers and education administrators in the St. Paul School District on the education needs of children in the child protection system and the need for access to school records and school information about these children.
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January 24, 2013 – CLC, in collaboration with the Council on Crime and Justice, will present a training on the expungement of juvenile records at Emerge Community Development in North Minneapolis.
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February 6, 2013- Dorsey and Whitney will host CLC’s next volunteer attorney training session, Representing Youth in Foster Care. Click HERE to apply
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February 25, 2013 – CLC, in collaboration with Youth Law Summit, will present a noon hour CLE training at Faegre Baker & Daniels on Education Rights for lawyers, county attorneys, public defenders, and judges handling or interested in the education rights of children.
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Deadlines are fast approaching for scholarships and funding available to foster youth who are continuing their education/ training the fall of 2013. Click HERE to learn more about scholarships and other financial funding for foster youth. |
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CLC has gathered a list of Summer Camp and Summer Work Opportunities that foster youth would be eligible to apply for. If you know a youth who would benefit from one of these programs, please let them know. Most applications are due in late March or Early April. |
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