Childrens Law Center

TO PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN APPROXIMATELY 6,000 CUSTODY/VISITATION AND RELATED FAMILY LAW CASES.

THE CHILDREN'S LAW CENTER (CLC) IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE THAT IS COMPRISED OF TRIAL PRACTICE, WRITING/APPELLATE PRACTICE, AND REFLECTIVE ADVOCACY PRACTICE. EMBEDDED INTO OUR PRACTICE IS THE REFLECTIVE ADVOCACY PRACTICE (RAP) MODEL. THIS MODEL SUPPORTS CLC'S WORK BY HELPING OUR STAFF AND BOARD UNDERSTAND THE DATA COLLECTED ON BEHALF OF CLC CLIENTS TO DETERMINE IF SOME ISSUES OR GAPS ARE NOT SOLELY ADDRESSED BY COURTROOM ADVOCACY. CLC UTILIZES THIS KNOWLEDGE IN COURT AND APPELLATE ADVOCACY, AS WELL AS PUBLISHES AND PRESENTS ON THESE TOPICS. THE SECURING SEAMLESS EDUCATION SERVICES PROJECT (SSES), THE BROKEN ADOPTION PROJECT (BAP), ARE TWO RAP PRACTICES. THE SSES PROJECT PROVIDES EDUCATION ADVOCACY ON BEHALF OF SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICE'S NEEDS. THE BROKEN ADOPTION PROJECT FOCUSES ON PROVIDING ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE NO LONGER WITH THEIR ADOPTIVE FAMILIES. THE CLC TEAM, INTAKE DATA AND CASE VOLUME METRICS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT MEASUREMENT CONSIDERED. CLC NUMBERS REFLECT THE UPTURN OF CASE ASSIGNMENT SINCE THE COURT, TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE COVID PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS, HAS BEEN RESTORED TO A FULL CALENDAR IN THROUGHOUT THE FISCAL YEAR. EACH BOROUGH AND JURIST MAINTAINS A MIXTURE OF VIRTUAL, HYBRID AND IN-PERSON PROCEEDINGS. IN FY22-23, NEW YORK CITY FAMILY COURTS EXPERIENCED EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IN THE FILINGS OF CVO PETITIONS WHILE ADDRESSING THE BACKLOG OF CVO PETITIONS FILED IN 2020 AND 2021 THAT WERE NOT DEEMED "ESSENTIAL", AND THEREFORE, NOT CALENDARED DURING THE PANDEMIC COURT LIMITAITONS. IN FY22-23, CLC APPEARED ON 6,575 INTAKE PETITONS AND 3, 174 CASE ID/FAMILY ID INTAKES. CLC CLOSED 4122 PETITIONS AND 1843 CASE ID/FAMILY ID COURT CASES. CLC SERVED 4,777 CHILDREN. WHILE AN ACHIEVEMENT THAT SPANNED MORE THAN LAST FISCAL YEAR, IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT CLC'S TECHNOLOGY HAS ENABLED THE ORGANIZATION TO BE ADAPTIVE, EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT FOR COURT PROCEEDINGS AND CLIENT REPRESENATION. CLC IS WELL EQUIPPED TO PIVOT AMONG THE VARIOUS TYPES OF COURT APPEARANCES: VIRTUAL, HYBRID AND IN-PERSON. CLC HAS THE TECHNICAL FELXIBILITY TO MEET THE REQUESTS OF OUR CLIENT TO MEET VIRTUALLY AND IN PERSON. AWAY FROM IN-PERSON INTERACTIONS. CLC STAFF SEAMLESSLY TRANSITIONED TO HYBRID-REMOTE WORK TASKS, MADE POSSIBLE BY CLC'S TECHNOLOGY PLAN. USING MICROSOFT 365 OFFICE SUITE, ATTORNEYS CAN COLLABORATE WITH STAKEHOLDERS REMOTELY. THIS TRANSITION HAS BEEN ESPECIALLY HELPFUL AS A LONG-TERM CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO CLIENTS AND FAMILIES.