Alone and ignored: Children without advocacy in child abuse and neglect courts

dc.contributor.authorLeVezu, A.
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-23T16:35:46Z
dc.date.available2018-10-23T16:35:46Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractDecades of legal scholarship regarding children’s advocacy in child welfare courts have assumed a non-existent reality. For the last forty years, scholars have debated the proper role of a child’s advocate and the proper weight and emphasis of a child’s opinion. This argument assumes that children are being represented, albeit perhaps inadequately, by some form of adult advocate in court. In this first-of-its-kind study, court observation data from Washington state reveal what is actually happening day-to-day in child abuse and neglect, or dependency, courts—widespread noncompliance with federal law and a complete lack of advocacy for many children. By failing to ask “what is happening?” before asking “what should be happening?” legal scholars have largely ignored a major failing of our court system. According to the court observation study discussed in this Article, in many cases children are left with no advocate and their needs are completely ignored in court hearings. In order for a child’s voice to be heard in a court proceeding, as scholars have repeatedly called for, courts must first and foremost acknowledge that the child exists.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLeVezu, A. (2018). Alone and Ignored: Children without Advocacy in Child Abuse and Neglect Courts. Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, 14, 125.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/LeVezu.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/3979
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherStanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Libertiesen_US
dc.subjectadvocateen_US
dc.subjectchild courten_US
dc.subjectcourt systemen_US
dc.titleAlone and ignored: Children without advocacy in child abuse and neglect courtsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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