Recommendations from the ABA Commission on Youth at Risk Convening – “Renewal and Revolution: Recommitting the Legal Profession to Serve Children and Youth, their Families, and Communities”

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• Author: Charisa Smith
• Date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12826

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Recommendations from the ABA Commission on

Youth at Risk Convening –“Renewal and

Revolution: Recommitting the Legal Profession to

Serve Children and Youth, their Families, and

Communities”

Charisa Smith

CUNY School of Law, Long Island City, New York, USA

Correspondence

Charisa Smith, CUNY School of Law, 2 Court

Sq. West C/O Clinic Reception, 5th Floor,

Long Island City, NY 11101, USA.

Email: charisa.smith@law.cuny.edu

Abstract

Youth and families impacted by legal systems now resound-

ingly attest to the systems' lasting harm, echoed by interdis-

ciplinary research. Lawyering thus requires a vastly renewed

outlook, boldness, and honest inquiry about the limits of

what the law and public systems can (and should) attempt

as purported problem-solving amidst broader socioeco-

nomic forces and injustice. This report synthesizes recom-

mendations from a groundswell of diverse, dedicated voices

following an October 2023 convening hosted by the Ameri-

can Bar Association Commission on Youth at Risk, the ABA

Center on Children and the Law, and Hofstra University's

Maurice A. Deane School of Law. Entitled “Renewal and Rev-

olution: Recommitting the Legal Profession to Serving Children

and Youth,Their Families,and Communities,”the convening

engaged various professionals—many with firsthand experi-

ence in foster and justice systems—and other advocates.

Since the 2006 ABA Youth At Risk Initiative Planning Confer-

ence, the ABA Commission on Youth At Risk has elevated

the representation and voice of youth through ethical

PLANNING COMMITTEE MEMBERS INCLUDED: K, Prudence Beidler Carr, Amy Brown, Robert Cannon, Hon. Marguerite Downing, Emily Fontanetta

Kathi Grasso, Hon. Ernestine Gray, Theodor Liebman, Brenda Robinson, Andrew Schepard, Nadia Seeratan, Charisa Smith, Nicole Wong.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12826

© 2024 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

760 Family Court Rev. 2024;62:760–789.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre

practice standards, expanded access, and national initiatives.

This report recounts findings of the 2023 convening's four

working groups which met for two-days of (often tense) dis-

cussions to chart a path for the legal profession, law, and

policy for the next decade and beyond. Priorities include:

transcending conceptions of youth “at risk”towards recog-

nition of harms done, a strengths-based lens, and lived

experience leadership and expertise; cultivating next gener-

ation attorneys; prioritizing early family defense and diver-

sion; divesting from systems and re-investing directly with

youth and families; and further eliminating racial disparities.

KEYWORDS

autonomy, best interests, child, defense, delinquency, disability,

diversion, ethics, foster, fund, guardian, holistic, immigration,

interdisciplinary, judge, juvenile, kin, mandated report, medical,

mental, neglect, parent, prevent, problem-solving, race, reasonable

efforts, termination, training, treatment, youth

Key points for the family court community

•Attorneys and advocates representing youth and families

require a bold paradigm shift towards legal strategies

that minimize harm and trauma, divert from courts and

facilities, and empower those directly impacted by

systems.

•Lived experience expertise on the part of youth and fam-

ilies should be better compensated and leveraged,

towards the advocacy goals of improved legal represen-

tation and divestment from public systems which

cause harm.

•Constitutional and civil rights protections for youth and

parents in family courts, and other systems like the immi-

gration system, need to be strengthened and formalized.

•Judges, attorneys and advocates require more extensive

training on eliminating racial and ethnic disparities. Juris-

dictions should prioritize this as a matter of professional

ethics (and/or continue doing so). Additional measures

are often needed to counter inevitable resistance to

change, and retrenchment of biases.

•While the next generation of attorneys representing

youth and families may benefit from being further

mentored and supported, it is also an honor and an asset

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