Media | EBCLO

Sacramento Bee Op Ed: Dependency Funding Falls Between Cracks

EBCLO — Tue, 30 May 2017 18:39:15 +0000

“Last week, 50 local chief judges sent a letter to Brown and legislators seeking – actually begging – for this relatively tiny appropriation.” Read the full op-ed article about the need for adequate dependency funding here.

EBCLO on East Bay Times Front Page

EBCLO — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 18:44:34 +0000

Great article covering EBCLO’s budget cuts was on the front page of the East Bay Times yesterday. To read the article and see the video visit: http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03/13/attorneys-more-funding-needed-to-help-east-bay-foster-youths/

Daily Journal Covers State Budget Issue

EBCLO — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 18:45:26 +0000

The following is an article published in the Daily Journal on January 12, 2017.

Dependency lawyers bemoan governor’s refusal to boost budget

Dependency attorneys say they are overburdened

By L.J. Williamson

When a budget increase for dependency counsel funding was yanked from the 2014 California budget at the eleventh hour, Ed Howard, for the first time in his professional career, cried. But now that attorneys who represent abused and neglected children have been through the same experience for three of the last four budgets, they are “saddened, but not surprised.”

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget numbers for dependency counsel stayed flat, offering no relief to overloaded dependency lawyers. The Judicial Council has said that dependency attorneys should handle a maximum 141 cases, but in many counties, attorneys are acting as advocates for nearly twice that number of children.

“We’re now down to 220 as the average caseload in LA, but we were at over 300 in 2014 when we started this journey,” said Leslie Starr Heimov, executive director of Children’s Law Center of California, a dependency counsel nonprofit.

Howard, senior counsel for University of San Diego School of Law’s Children’s Advocacy Institute, and other dependency attorneys were heartened when the Legislature increased dependency counsel funding by $11 million in 2015. But no other budgetary help has followed since then.

“It’s hard to find a more compelling need in the court system, and yet the budget proposes to increase spending for judges’ salaries and benefits but not dependency cases,” said Kevin G. Baker, Legislative Director for ACLU California.

Baker said the state’s failure to provide sufficient funding for dependency counsel has violated children’s and parents’ rights to competent and effective representation in dependency proceedings.

Without more money, the language being bandied about in dependency circles — words like “crisis” and “collapse” — are apt, Howard said.

“Imagine yourself in this job. You wake up every day and know that you’re violating your own ethics,” lamented Howard. “At worst, lawyers throughout the state will say, ‘No more, I can’t take any more cases.’” Howard said he has spoken to large numbers of lawyers who have said they have thought about rejecting more cases. The dependency budget doesn’t have to be perfected this year, he explained, “but we can’t be shut out again.”

California is facing a number of significant pressures, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of external affairs for the state Department of Finance, with revenue receipts below projections and the unknowns that come with the incoming Trump administration. “All of those things make a strong case for a prudent budget.”

It isn’t that anyone opposes funding for counsel for abused and neglected kids, said Senator Holly J. Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, chair of the Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee, who said the issue has bipartisan support. “I think what you may hear from the administration is the priorities, in the overall scheme of things. You’re not going to get anybody that says we oppose it because children aren’t worthy.”

The issue is righteous, Mitchell said, but is one of many competing interests the state is trying to address as the state’s financial recovery proceeds. Other items that did receive boosts in the 2017 budget include K-12 education, early learning programs, foster care youth education, and in-home supportive services for the disabled.

There’s a danger of addressing critical public policy issues through the budget process, Mitchell said, where the weight of the issue can sometimes be lost when stuck with a price tag. “It could be the most critical issue to the most Californians, but particularly in this case, there’s no strong, supersonic lobby,” she added.

Others echoed Mitchell’s sentiment that a lack political juice works against the issue. Foster kids don’t show up at political rallies, and they don’t vote.

Dependency Legal Services, for example, is a nonprofit law firm that exclusively offers indigent representation in dependency cases, with contracts in nine counties. But Chief Operating Officer David Meyers said he may be forced to close shop in one or more of those locations.

“I just feel deflated and disappointed,” Meyers said of the string of budget defeats. According to calculations from the Judicial Council, the total need for court-appointed dependency counsel is $202.9 million per year. The $114.7 million in the current state budget meets only 57 percent of that need.

“There are three types of counties: ‘underfunded,’ ‘severely underfunded,’ and ‘in crisis,’” Meyers said. “The actual dollars are so low we may have no choice but to leave … for people like me doing this for more than 20 years, you can’t work for less than you would get at a minimum wage job.”

In Mendocino County, Meyers said there are only about five attorneys representing all of that county’s children in dependency. And one of them is actively looking for another job, he said.

Firm closures are not theory, but reality. In October, Dependency Legal Group of San Diego (DLG) closed its doors after its contract with the Judicial Council expired.

“The State’s new budget for juvenile dependency representation in San Diego County can no longer support the organizational structure of DLG and the accompanying scope of services it has been providing the community since 2010,” DLG explained on its webpage.

Meyers and others said the Judicial Council is largely to blame for the disparities, because of an outmoded formula for allocating funds.

The Judicial Council instituted a four-year reallocation plan in 2015 to more equitably distribute funds, which benefited some counties but further starved others. A subcommittee directed to reexamine the allocation formula is expected to report back to the council this May.

“The primary issue is not the allocation formula adopted by the Judicial Council; the primary issue is adequate funding for court-appointed dependency counsel who do vital and life-saving work on behalf of the state’s dependent children,” said a Judicial Council spokesperson. “That’s why the council continues to advocate every year for adequate funding for this and other important needs.”

The hope of the reallocation plan was that it would include additional funds, Heimov said. “Equity is an important part of the solution, but it doesn’t work all by itself.”Heimov said advocates will spend the next five and a half months trying to get more money in the May revised budget. If that doesn’t happen, they have little choice but to keep going.

“Most of us can’t say no to new clients because our contracts say we will represent 100 percent of the children,” she said. “What ends up happening is we work harder but are able to do less for each child.”

Lawyers are forced to triage, and the kids who are not in crisis don’t get attention, Heimov said. That might mean immediately sorting out Medi-Cal coverage for the infant with a 103-degree fever, but postponing work for the 10-year-old who’s being expelled for acting out in school.

“I don’t want to do this for the next 20 years asking for money,” Heimov said. “I want to get where the funding is adequate so we can do our jobs.”

ED Roger Chan Named San Francisco Superior Court Judge

EBCLO — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 18:56:26 +0000

Yesterday, Governor Edmund G. Brown announced his latest appointments to the bench. Among them was East Bay Children’s Law Offices Executive Director Roger Chan who was appointed to serve in the San Francisco Superior Court. Roger co-founded EBCLO in 2009 and has served as its Executive Director ever since. He will be greatly missed by everyone at EBCLO and in Alameda County. Our loss is San Francisco’s gain. To read the Governor’s press release, click here.

Foster Care Awareness Month 2016

EBCLO — Mon, 09 May 2016 19:35:45 +0000

Every May, we take the opportunity to recognize the many people who help children and youth find permanent homes and connections during National Foster Care Month. This year’s theme, “Honoring, Uniting and Celebrating Families” emphasizes the importance of reunifying families. Family Reunification is the most desirable permanency goal for youth in foster care. In 2015, 281 children in Alameda County were safely and permanently reunified with their parents. One of them was a 9 year old girl who was removed from her father because of his substance abuse when she was 7. Her dad took on the very difficult work of the reunification process with steadfast commitment. He was an active participant in the Family Drug Court, building a network of support from the treatment providers, fellow parents in the program, and the court. While his daughter was in foster care with relatives, he fought his addiction, and he and his daughter were ultimately reunited. He continues on his road of recovery with his daughter, with the support of their relatives and team, and our client is thriving and thrilled to be reunited with her father. They are a family to be honored and celebrated this month.

While her story of reunification is inspiring, many more of our clients remain in foster care. This month we also pay tribute to all of the wonderful relatives, foster parents, teachers, social workers, CASAs, therapists, and others who work every day to help foster youth thrive whether or not they are able to be reunited with their parents. We shine a light on these heroes this month for the inspiration, dedication and love they provide to children every day.

What can you do to help?

If you have a few minutes . . .

Donate to an organization that helps foster youth, like EBCLO!
Set your Amazon Smiles charity to EBCLO.
Like EBCLO on Facebook and read about foster care issues in your news feed. Or follow us on Twitter or Instagram!
Watch videos of foster youth’s real life stories.
Support Sleep Train’s pajama, school supplies and toy drives (EBCLO receives these items to distribute to clients).

If you have a few hours . . .

Learn more about California Youth Connection and support foster youth related legislation by contacting your legislator.
Attend Beyond the Table on May 21–a fundraiser to support Alameda County’s emancipated foster youth.
Read a book about a topic related to foster care from this list.

If you have a few months or more . . .\

Mentor an 18-21 year old foster youth through Beyond Emancipation.
Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).
Become a foster parent through Seneca.

Let Love Define Families Series Features EBCLO Kids!

EBCLO — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 19:36:26 +0000

Huffington Post Gay Voices published a wonderful article about an amazing family who has adopted a couple of EBCLO children. Our many thanks to Lara & Emkay for being just the family that our clients needed. For the entire inspirational article, click here.

CBS Honors EBCLO’s Daniel Senter with Jefferson Award

EBCLO — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 20:36:10 +0000

EBCLO’s Dan Senter is the most recent bay area recipient of the Jefferson Award. The Jefferson Award is, on the local level, a community hero award recognizing “ordinary people who do extraordinary things without the expectation of recognition or reward.” Local award winners can move on to be recognized nationally and have, in the past included Supreme Court Justices, First Ladies and many more historical figures in our times. Most exciting of all is that local winners are all profiled on KPIX and KCBS! Tune in this week to see Dan: On KPIX Channel 5: 8/21 at 6:00 p.m.; 8/22 at 12:00 p.m. & 8/24 at 7:00 a.m. Or on the radio at KCBS 106.9 FM or 740 AM on 8/21 at 6:50 p.m., 9:40 p.m. and 11:50 p.m. or on 8/25 at 11:50 a.m. and 3:50 p.m. Or if you don’t live around here, check out: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/08/21/jefferson-award-winner-helps-east-bay-foster-youth-achieve-more/.

Dan is a worthy addition to the list of Jefferson Award winners, and EBCLO could not be more proud. If you don’t know Dan, let us tell you a little more about him . . .Dan Senter is a former special education teacher who went to law school to bring educational equity to disadvantaged youth. He developed EBCLO’s Education Advocacy Program. Three years into its existence, through many long evening and weekend hours, but with a steadfast dedication to children, Daniel’s program has helped hundreds of foster youth.

Daniel is on the ground at hundreds of IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings for our foster youth. He is going to the youth’s school and meeting with teachers, counselors, school psychologists, administrators, foster parents and others to make sure that the youth is receiving appropriate academic supports and related mental health services. Sometimes it means he is just being a little bit of a squeaky wheel. Sometimes it means he is educating school personnel about some of the special needs or rights foster youth have. Sometimes it means he is challenging an entire district’s compliance with federal and state law. He also defends our clients in expulsion proceedings, and he has nearly a 100% success rate in preventing expulsions.

Dan’s innovative Education Advocacy Program recognizes that an attorney’s job for a foster youth must go beyond the walls of the juvenile courtroom. And he continues to develop new ideas to further the educational success of foster youth. He is about to complete an evaluation of a pilot program he developed to measure the success of EBCLO’s third grade clients. Based on the premise that children learn to read through third grade and read to learn after third grade, Daniel did not want any more foster youth to fall into a cycle of educational failure that only becomes harder to break.

He has also trained dozens of other foster youth advocates, including Berkeley Law students and Court Appointed Special Advocates, so that Alameda County’s foster youth have a whole cadre of adults looking out for their educational rights.

Congratulations Dan! We will all be tuned in to watch you this week!

California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Publishes Article About EBCLO

EBCLO — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:47:02 +0000

EBCLO’s Clinical Director Sarah Lusardi was recently published by the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhbood Mental health. Her article, “Serving the Best Interests of Infants and Toddlers in the Juvenile Court Dependency Sytem: A Multidisciplinary Team Approach” looks at EBCLO’s attempts to apply best practices in its representation of our zero to three year old clients. To read the article, visit:

Serving the Best Interests of Infants and Toddlers in the Juvenile Court Dependency System: A Multidisciplinary Team Approach.

Adoption Day Changes Lives Forever

EBCLO — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 20:55:24 +0000

By Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — Something was clearly different Saturday at Alameda County’s Wiley Manuel Courthouse.

Usually somber, the Washington Street building was bedecked with brightly colored balloons. Teddy bears lined a corridor’s windowsill and packed every surface at the front of a courtroom. Photos were being taken — not mugshots, but portraits before a pastel backdrop. And everyone was smiling.

Alameda County’s 11th Annual Adoption Day, part of a national celebration, saw 37 families made whole and 41 children’s lives changed forever.

For Nicole and Jim Ludwig, of Danville, it was the end of a two-and-a-half year journey. They had begun taking classes to become eligible to adopt, and then the process slowed down due to state and county budget cuts.

That’s when a neighbor told them about Nadia. It turned out the Ludwigs knew Nadia’s great-aunt and great-uncle. They started looking into her situation, and after some research, “we wanted to adopt her before we even met her,” said Nicole, 40.

Nadia moved in with them 15 months ago, but they were not sure until April that the legal hurdles to adoption had been cleared. “For eight months, she’s living in our home and on any given day she could’ve been pulled,” said Jim, 50.

“But from the first day she was there, we couldn’t love her any differently,” Nicole added.

Nadia, now 6, called them “Mom” and “Dad” within a few months, although “Dad” took a bit longer because she had never had one before.

“That was a big day for me,” Jim said.

Over the 11 years that Alameda County has commemorated National Adoption Day, more than 600 families have been united and more than 750 children have found homes. Still, more than 1,600 kids remain in the county’s foster-care system — among more than 114,000 nationwide — hoping and waiting to find permanent families.

Alameda County Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Trina Thompson praised all the judicial officers and court workers, social service agency workers, private adoption agencies and others who cooperate to make days like this happen. They are the “giraffe society,” she said, “those who stick out their necks for children every day.”

Corinne Flores, accompanied by her husband, Tony, 52, and their son, Derek, 22, spoke about how they had finalized their adoption of Christona few weeks ago, just shy of his 18th birthday. Though he is technically not a child anymore, he is their child, she said: “We feel that he is with us forever, we’re here to be the family and support that every child deserves.”

And like any parents with teenagers, “there have been some tough times, some bumps in the road … and this was something he couldn’t do with us today,” she said, indicating his absence. “But we’ll work on it together.”

Upstairs, a short while later, Gerald and Lynnette Linnen of Hayward grinned as Judge David Krashna signed the final papers for their adoption of Jack Tango Linnen, not quite 2 years old.

They had not planned to be parents again; at 50, they have seven kids between them plus four grandchildren. But Lynnette’s former foster daughter was the victim of a crime and delivered Jack at only 23 weeks. Doctors did not expect him to survive, and they sat with him every day in the hospital mainly so that he would not die alone.

One day Jack reached up and grabbed Gerald’s finger. Lynnette said Saturday they are “very grateful, very fortunate and very blessed.”

“Jack is truly a miracle and I was blessed that I was able to be a part of his life from the beginning,” she said. “He’ll always have family. He can’t be taken away.