In many ways, the challenges of the child welfare field mirror those in the criminal justice system. Both disproportionately ensnare over-policed, underserved communities, especially people of color and those living in deep poverty.
The difference between those systems, explain East Bay Family Defenders co-founders Eliza Patten and Zabrina Aleguire, is one of gender. Women fill these courtrooms.
In September 2018, Patten and Aleguire launched East Bay Family Defenders with a team of 10 attorneys, a social worker and a peer advocate. It is the dream of two lawyers who came from the East Coast, trained to surround vulnerable parents with a needed support system.
The office continues its first year of operation as the field of parent representation enjoys significant tailwinds. A recent federal policy change has opened up new funds for indigent defense in child welfare court, and a new study has validated the impact of the approach taken by East Bay Family Defenders.
In a sunlit office, not far from the Alameda County courthouse in San Leandro, their holistic team forms a quilt of support for parents where systems have often failed them. Ninety percent of child welfare cases in California, note Patten and Aleguire, are the result of an alleged incident of neglect, and the charge is often rooted in a lack of money to afford housing, childcare or treatment.
“People in our country are blamed for being poor,” states Aleguire.
East Bay Family Defenders fights against that blame, advocating for a clearer picture of what the family has endured and necessary services they have gone without.
“We know from research that vigorous advocacy in the first three months of a case has the highest impact on avoiding or shortening the need for foster care placement,” explained Patten. But it is not just what they do in the courtroom that is different.
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