By Curtis Nelson, Jr., Kellie J. Johnson and Mariarenee Contreras
The Children’s Law Committee was created in 2008 as an ad hoc committee at the request of the state Legislative Task Force on Legal Representation in Child Protection Cases. Since then, the committee has become a positive forum for dialogue and mentorship to all members of the Bar and Bench in the practice of children’s law. As part of these efforts, the committee has presented continuing legal education programs on legal updates and changes affecting children to the state’s legal community. In 2017, the Children’s Law Committee was redesignated as a standing committee of the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA). Its current membership is composed of private and public practitioners, legal aid
attorneys, judges and law professors.
In 2018, the Louisiana Bar Journal published a Children’s Law-themed issue with articles focusing on child in need of care advocacy, adoption law, expungement in juvenile proceedings, the impact of domestic violence on children, and examination of disproportionalities in the child welfare and juvenile justice
systems. For this 2022 issue, authors have written articles focusing on trauma, community-based services, children in the courtroom and how Bar members can volunteer on behalf of a child. All of these articles will shine a light on how far-reaching and pervasive children’s law issues are to all Bar members. The
authors are hopeful that more members with general practice areas will become involved in the work addressed by these articles and become part of the committee’s current and future initiatives.
Louisiana Bar Journal August / September 2022