Expressed‐Interest Legal Representation for Children in Substitute Care: Evaluation of the Impact of Representation on Children's Permanency Outcomes

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12175
• Author: Andrew Zinn,Clark Peters
• Date: 01 October 2015
• Published date: 01 October 2015

EXPRESSED-INTEREST LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR CHILDREN

IN SUBSTITUTE CARE: EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF

REPRESENTATION ON CHILDREN’S PERMANENCY OUTCOMES

Andrew Zinn

1

and Clark Peters

Based on a combination of administrative data; juvenile court record review; and informed-participant interviews of juvenile

court judges, attorneys, and service providers, the current study examines the impact of the Foster Children’s Project (FCP).

FCP is a program that provides professional legal representation to children in substitute care. Legal representation by FCP

attorneys is found to increase the rate of children’s exit to adoption, leading to a higher overall rate of exit to permanence. The

rate of exit to reunification is not, however, found to be affected by FCP representation. Implications for juvenile court policy

and practice are discussed.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

The study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of client-directed representation in cases of children in foster

care through examination of Palm Beach County’s Foster Children’s Project (FCP), which provides professional legal

representation to those in state care.

FCP representation was found to increase the rate of children’s exit to adoption, leading to a higher overall rate of exit

to permanence. The rate of exit to reunification, however, remained stable.

Research findings are based on administrative data; juvenile court record review; and interviews of juvenile court

judges, attorneys, and service providers.

Keywords: Adoption; Child Welfare; Children; Foster Care; Juvenile Court; Legal Representation; and Permanency.

INTRODUCTION

To expedite permanency for children in the child welfare system,

2

recent decades have seen a

number of court-based reform efforts. The federal Court Improvement Program (CIP), part of the

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, is the most notable, providing funds to states and tribes

to assess judicial processes and implement plans to increase adoptions, expedited reunification, and

improve outcomes. The CIP has generated a wide range of efforts to improve child welfare systems,

including administrative reform, data system development, efforts to measure outcomes, and pro-

grams to improve legal representation of parents. Outside of the CIP, there have also been a number

of local and private efforts to improve court functioning and oversight of child welfare cases (e.g.,

National Center for State Courts’ High Performance Framework).

A recent, but contentious, area of reform has involved efforts to provide attorneys for children

placed in substitute care. The Child Abuse Treatment and Prevention Act of 1974 mandates that all

dependent children be appointed a guardian ad litem (GAL) to represent their best interests. Many

legal scholars have argued that the law inadequately protects children’s interests and rights. The offi-

ces that provide GAL representation often lack adequate resources and are staffed by nonprofession-

als. Moreover, by providing representation for the child’s best interests, the child’s own articulated

interests may get insufficient attention.

3

Recently, the American Bar Association endorsed this so-

called “expressed interests” model for all children in dependency court with the promulgation of The

Model Act Governing the Representation of Children in Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency

Correspondence: azinn@ku.edu; Twitter@clarkmpeters

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 53 No. 4, October 2015 589–601

V

C2015 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts