Right to Counsel for Children

This link has a report card for each state on a child's right to counsel.  South Dakota only earns a D.  This report card is based on laws actually on the books, not based on how those laws are applied by the Courts. When we look at how the laws are applied, I think that South Dakota would score a little higher, but perhaps it raises a good question about whether the laws should reflect the best practices of the state courts?

Thanks to the Children's Advocacy Institute, FirstStar, and the University of San Diego School of Law for conducting this study and making your results public.

Trauma

Trauma seems to be the new hot button issue for those who work in the child welfare system.  So...what exactly is trauma?  The definition that I received at the session on Polyvictimization and Child Trauma at the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) conference is as follows (and note that this definition is geared toward children, but is more broadly applicable):
- extraordinary experience that threatens the life or physical integrity of a child or of someone important to that child
- this extraordinary experience causes overwhelming sense of terror, helplessness, and horror
- this extraordinary experience produces intense physical effects.

Okay, but we all know that those who are involved in the child welfare system, whether they are parents or children, have experienced some truly awful things.  Why is trauma as a concept so important for us to consider and look for?  A study called the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study found that childhood trauma results in a reduction of life expectancy of 19 years.  This is a big deal.  Nineteen years can mean the difference between seeing your child graduate from college or get married, or meeting a grandchild.

So how do we know whether the experiences are just a bad thing (or a series of bad things) that happened to a person, or whether they constitute a trauma, which the person may need assistance in dealing with?  We look for symptoms, such as diagnoses of PTSD, ODD, bipolar disorder, ADD, ADHD, and conduct disorder.  Other symptoms besides diagnoses include avoidance, feeling numb or disengaged, hyperarousal or emotional/behavioral agitation, re-experiencing, feelings of powerlessness and helplessness, and feelings of hyper-vigilance.  These types of symptoms may also be a clue that there is an underlying trauma, if you were not already aware of the trauma and were only aware of the diagnoses.

Once you are aware of the types of symptoms listed above, and that there may be trauma underlying those symptoms, it is key to conduct a trauma assessment, which is more in-depth and is different from a routine general mental health treatment.  The person conducting a trauma assessment should be a mental health provider with training on trauma.  The assessment is intended to determine whether the child (or person) needs trauma focused treatment.

So why am I writing about trauma on a blog that is not necessarily geared toward other attorneys and professionals in the child welfare system (although I certainly welcome them to read as well!)?  Because anyone can look for trauma and recognize some of the symptoms of trauma and then assist the person to obtain an assessment and trauma-focused treatment, if necessary.  And because 19 years is a really big deal.

Thanks to the presenters at the NACC Conference on this topic, as well as the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, Child Welfare Committee for the resources for this post.

National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Conference

I just returned from the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Conference in Chicago, IL.  It was fabulous (just as it was last year)!  It's given me some great ideas for posts, so I'll be updating the blog soon with all of the great information I learned.

Thanks for reading!

Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems

I wrote an article that was published on the Through the Eyes of the Child Initiative's website.  Here's the link.  Please feel free to check it out & let me know if you have any comments.  

Shaken Baby Syndrome

When I was a law clerk, the year after I graduated from law school, I had the opportunity to watch two separate criminal trials where the issue was shaken baby syndrome.  In one trial, the defendant was convicted; in the other, the defendant was acquitted.  In both cases, the prosecution and defense both presented the testimony of expert witnesses on this very topic.  Needless to say, it was extremely interesting to watch and learn about.  However, it made very clear to me that the diagnoses of shaken baby syndrome is far from a medical certainty.  There are many variables that go into whether shaken baby syndrome is present in the particular child.  But even more interesting (at least to me), is the question of whether shaken baby syndrome even exists, as well as whether shaking alone can cause injury or if an impact of the head is needed.  I take no position on this, because frankly I lack the medical training to honestly evaluate it.

In the December 2011 issue of the ABA Journal, an American Bar Association publication, this very topic has been taken up.  I urge you to read it and consider the issue for yourself.  (The article is in the hard copy version of the ABA Journal, but hasn't yet been posted on their website.  Once it is, I'll add the link.)  Here is the link to the article (Updated 12/08/2011).  The ABA Journal has also written about this topic before.  This is a list of some of their other articles on the topic.

Identity Theft & Kids Aging Out of Foster Care

I recently attended the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Conference.  At the conference, I heard in a couple of different breakout sessions about one particular problem that is facing foster kids who have aged out of the system or are about to do so.  That is the problem of identity theft.  Studies show that 1/2 of the kids in foster care in California are victims of identity theft.  Estimates are that fewer South Dakota foster care kids are victims, but any number other than zero is too many.  Making the problem even worse is that most of these kids don't discover the identity theft until they have already aged out of the system and are without support and assistance with cleaning up the problem.

While in foster care, kids' personal information, including date of birth and social security number, passes through an untold number of hands.  HHS/DSS caseworkers and supervisors, attorneys, court personnel, counselors and therapists, medical professionals, and others all come into contact with the children's files.  In addition, kinship placements, foster families, group home staff, and immediate family all get copies of the children's files.  When children's identifying information passes through so many people's hands, as well as is retained by the child's biological family, it's really not surprising that when these kids age out, they often find out that they are victims of identity theft.

So what can we do about it?  Well for one thing, we can use something other than the children's social security number as an identifier.  This would make it slightly more difficult for the identities of children to be compromised.

In addition, we can do credit checks of foster care kids when they are 16 years old, so that identity theft & credit problems can be cleaned up before they age out of the system.  Many states have already enacted legislation mandating that their states' HHS/DSS do this as part of the process of educating and preparing those kids who are about to age out of the system.  South Dakota could certainly use those states' laws as a model for legislation here.  HHS could begin doing these credit checks as part of the process of preparing foster care kids to age out, even without legislation in place.  Guardians ad litem can and should assist in this process.

Moreover, kids who are about to age out of the system need to be educated so that they can protect themselves against others taking advantage of them once they do age out.  This education needs to be very practical and pragmatic.  Topics such as how you check your credit reports, what are the implications of cosigning or taking out a loan for someone else, etc. need to be covered.  Guardians ad litem need to ensure that these kids are getting the information that they need on this front.

This is something that cannot wait.  We need to begin taking these steps immediately to protect these children from further identity theft, and to help them clean up the cases of identity theft that have already occurred.

Rural Practice and South Dakota

I'm from South Dakota originally, but recently relocated to Nebraska.  When I lived in South Dakota, I practiced law from Rapid City, and ventured to other, smaller towns for the occasional case.  In Nebraska, I live and practice in a much more rural setting.  Holdrege, Nebraska is a town of about 5,000 people, set in a county of about 10,000 people.  However, many of my cases come out of the surrounding counties, the county seats of which are much smaller.

When I was a law student, I distinctly remember the Chief Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court, David Gilbertson speaking to law students about the absence of attorneys in many rural communities and the problems this was creating in the administration of justice.  I remember thinking that rural practice could be an excellent opportunity, but not having a clue as to how one would find out about rural communities in need of attorneys.

Well, the South Dakota State Bar Association has taken up the challenge of studying the decline of rural law practice through its recent announcement of the creation of the Rural Practice Task Force (see page 2 of the State Bar Newsletter).  This development has been widely reported on, both within South Dakota (see the Argus Leader's coverage), as well as more widespread national coverage (see the Wall Street Journal Law Blog's coverage, see this post from the Rural Lawyer blog, and see this post from My Shingle).

In my short time thus far practicing law in rural Nebraska, I have already heard from one judge and multiple attorneys about the need for attorneys in certain rural communities, as well as the gratitude and relief that some new attorneys are moving to more rural communities to begin their careers.  It is clear to me that this problem is certainly not limited to South Dakota.

What should be done to address the problem of 'justice denied' in rural communities?  I'm not exactly sure, but I think that the task force created by the South Dakota State Bar is an excellent first step.  I, for one, will be following the task force's activity to see what they discover.