ABOUT EBCLO
Mission Statement:
The mission of the East Bay Children’s Law Offices, Inc., is to protect and defend the rights of children and youth through effective, vigorous and compassionate legal advocacy. EBCLO strives to provide a voice for children in the juvenile dependency system and to promote positive outcomes for them.
East Bay Children’s Law Offices (EBCLO) was founded in 2009 to represent children and youth in the juvenile court. The juvenile dependency court is the system which protects children and youth in cases of abuse (physical, emotional or sexual), neglect or abandonment of children by their parents or guardians. Committed to the need for high quality legal advocacy for children, EBCLO’s team of attorneys and social workers strive to provide our young clients with a voice in the decisions affecting their lives.Children in the dependency system face tremendous challenges as victims of abuse and neglect, and they are then thrust into a system sometimes not well equipped to address their many and varied physical, developmental, psychological and educational needs. Accordingly, East Bay Children’s Law Offices has a multi-disciplinary approach to advocacy for children and youth in the foster care system. Our staff includes both attorneys and youth advocate social workers who team up to provide holistic and comprehensive advocacy for children’s rights both in and out of juvenile court. Our primary function is the legal representation of children and youth at every juvenile dependency proceeding from detention through permanency. Within the court process, we identify and request services for our clients, including advocating for their educational, developmental, physical and mental health needs. We also establish and maintain relationships with our clients so that we, too, can be another stable adult figure in their lives.
When possible, we also protect and defend the rights of our child clients outside of the juvenile dependency court proceedings, including advocating for our children in any joint dependency/delinquency type hearings, school expulsion hearings and other special education proceedings. When we are not available for such extended representation, we make referrals to other community resources. We work closely with our community partners to advocate for services such as public benefits and immigration status that our clients may be entitled to.