Introduction
From the moment a child is removed from their parents and placed in foster care, everything is at stake — their home, school, community, and relationships with family and friends . Although the child welfare system was designed to protect the safety and wellbeing of children, children and youth in foster care often experience a damaging trajectory of disruption, inadequate services, and further maltreatment . These negative experiences are exacerbated by racial bias and economic inequality which have deep historical roots .
Courts play an integral role in the child welfare system, where the decisions made are serious and consequential: Is the child in danger of immediate harm? Should the child be removed from the home? Has the child protection agency made reasonable efforts to prevent removal? How will the parent, child, and siblings be reunified? Should parental rights be terminated? Is there a relative who can care for or even adopt the child? Does the older youth have the supports needed to transition from foster care to adulthood? For judges to make the best possible decisions, they need accurate, relevant, and complete information . Lawyers provide this information .
The practice of child welfare law is complex and dramatically impacts the lives of millions of children, parents, siblings, and kin each year . Children face the trauma of abuse, neglect, family separation, school changes, and uncertain futures . Parents experience the removal of their children and face the possibility of permanently losing custody of, and contact with, their children . Agencies face community pressure to keep children safe. To effectively represent clients, child welfare attorneys must possess expertise in state and federal law, ethics, local court rules, trial skills and dispute resolution, child development and trauma, community resources and treatment services, as well as skills in client interviewing and relationships .
Child welfare law is a relatively new field compared to contracts or real estate law. Due to the highly specialized nature of this work, most attorneys did not acquire knowledge in child welfare law while in school, but this is changing with the growth of child welfare law classes and clinical programs . Many of the traditional law school classes such as evidence, constitutional law, and trial skills, among others, will be helpful in becoming an effective child welfare lawyer alongside the exploration of child welfare careers. Building a pipeline of committed attorneys to join this challenging and rewarding practice is necessary to ensure access to justice for children, parents, and communities and to develop child welfare law and policy.
The goal of this Child Welfare Law Career Guide is to encourage students to explore and prepare for a career in child welfare law . This Guide advises how to build your knowledge, explore child welfare attorney roles, and prepare for an early career attorney position . Whether your school has dedicated child welfare law classes, a child welfare practice clinic, or none of the above, this Guide suggests a pathway for learning and experiential development that will inform your career search and enhance the success of your job applications .
We look forward to providing support through your educational journey.
Child Welfare Law And Practice
NACC uses the term “child welfare” as a general reference, to include child protection legal proceedings as well as collateral matters like education, immigration, and public benefits that impact families and the outcomes of child protection cases . This Guide focuses on child protection court proceedings, in which a parent or guardian has been formally accused of neglect or abuse of a child (or the child is alleged to be dependent and in need of supervision), and the child has been removed from the home and placed with relatives or in foster care.
Child protection legal proceedings may be heard in a “dependency court,” “juvenile court,” or “family court,” depending on the structure of a jurisdiction’s judicial system. Juvenile court is also where juvenile delinquency proceedings are heard, when a child is accused of an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult, which is governed by juvenile law. Family court is also where divorce and child custody matters are heard, which is governed by family law. Each of these systems has their own set of laws, rules, policies, and procedures . Terminology varies by jurisdiction. Some professionals refer to the child welfare system as the “family regulation” or “family policing” system with critiques of the laws and actions of child protective services.
Child welfare law includes federal statutes, state statutes, federal and state case law, regulations, and court rules. While child welfare law is primarily based upon state statutes, federal statutes and funding streams have shaped their development . For more information on child welfare law, see NACC’s Child Welfare Law and Practice: Representing Children, Parents, and Agencies in Neglect, Abuse, and Dependency Cases, known in the field as the “Red Book.”
A case begins with an allegation of abuse or neglect of a child that is reported to child protective services (typically a county social service agency) or the police . Most referrals to child protective services do not result in court proceedings . In 2021, child welfare agencies received nearly 4 million referrals involving over 7 million children. Nearly half of these reports were screened out, and agencies conducted investigations involving over 3 million children.
Careers In Child Welfare Law
In a child welfare case, there are three primary parties: the child or children, the parents or legal guardians, and the child welfare agency . In some states there are additional parties, such as the sheriff’s office, district attorney, or Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). High-quality legal representation of each party is essential to ensure fairness and due process — for all parties to voice their concerns, assert their rights, and actively participate in reaching solutions that protect children, strengthen families, and serve communities.
But access to counsel for each party varies from state to state . There is no recognized federal constitutional right to counsel for children or parents, and in some jurisdictions, children or parents have no lawyer in court. In other jurisdictions, there are specialized law offices representing children, parents, or both, with multidisciplinary legal teams which include social workers, peer advocates, parent advocates, and investigators. Representation of the child welfare agency varies by state/jurisdiction depending on the model adopted. Many entities are working to ensure access to counsel and improve the quality of legal representation for all parties.
You may be asking yourself “What draws attorneys to child welfare practice?” A recent study in Kentucky identified eight areas of motivation among attorneys who practice child welfare law:
- Advocacy (promoting and protecting the interests of another)
- Justice
- Autonomy (self-determination)
- Mastery (desire to improve)
- Supportive environment
- Achievements
- Intrinsic motivations
- Prosocial motivations (desire to benefit/act for the good of other people)
Each attorney’s role in the child welfare legal system is important, and many attorneys will change roles over time, representing different parties over their careers, or becoming judges, professors, or policy advocates.