Public Patron's Guide to Family Law

The population of adolescents in the child welfare system is steadily growing. As advocates for these young adults, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves not just on abuse and neglect law and policy but also on the ancillary issues that impact permanency. This book serves as a guide to attorneys and judges whenever they have the privilege of serving this population of youth.

Introduces social work professionals and attorneys to the most significant and typical legal problems that may arise from the moment a neglected or abused child enters the foster care system to the child's exit from it. The authors look at law through the eyes of the main participants - the foster child, the foster parents, biological parents, public foster care agencies, private foster care agencies, and the courts - and describe the legal relationships that each has with the others.

On any given day there are more than 500,000 children in foster care placement in the United States. When the juvenile court system invades a child’s life, a judge is charged with the duty to protect the child’s safety and well-being. To meet the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable children, non-educators in the system must first learn what questions to ask. This book will help assure that the children whose lives are entrusted to us have every opportunity to soar.

about finding permanent homes for children caught in the child welfare system. Each of these chapters outlines the critical issues social workers ,attorneys, and judges must address, sample court reports and court orders, the complex issues surrounding interstate placements, and adoption subsidies.

There is a profound crisis in the United States' foster care system. Well over half of all children who enter foster care never go home. The field of child welfare has lost its way and is neglecting its fundamental responsibility to the most vulnerable children and families in America.