CFR helped bring together the first ever National Parents Attorneys Conference, on May 13th and 14th in Washington, D.C.   This exciting gathering was convened by the National Project to Improve Representation for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System, which is co-sponsored by the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law and funders including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Child Welfare Fund and Casey Family Programs.  CFR's Board Member, Martin Guggenheim and Executive Director, Sue Jacobs are members of the Project's steering committee and presented at the conference along with CFR's Deputy Director, Michele Cortese and Supervising Social Worker, Jillian Cohen.

Prof. Guggenheim facilitated the inspirational plenary, and exhorted the audience to be more than excellent lawyers for parents and to form a movement to challenge a national practice in which children in foster care are overwhelming poor children of color.  Plenary speakers also called for federal funding incentives to strengthen families, and reminded participants to learn who their clients are as parents and people and to strive for equal justice for their families.

The conference continued with sessions on practice and on theory:  Ms. Cortese and Ms. Cohen co-led a workshop on Cornerstone Advocacy © about what advocates could do in the first 60 days of a child protective case to help families reunite.  CFR's approach, which focuses on the four cornerstone areas of visiting, placement, services, and conferencing, is also featured in the May 2009 issue of ABA:  Child Law Practice.   Click here to read the article by Jillian Cohen & Michele Cortese.

This past February, CFR also presented at the Child Welfare League of America's 2009 National Conference in Washington, D.C.  Parent Advocate Robin Lyde, Social Work Supervisor Jill Cohen and Litigation Supervisor Maura Keating addressed an audience of caseworkers, social workers, parent advocates and agency administrators about the huge impact Parent Advocates can have with parents involved with the child welfare system.   CRR's Parent Advocates are parents who have directly experienced the child protective and foster care systems and have reunified with their children.   Their life experiences afford them the ability to inspire and motivate parents while they plan for their children's futures by improving their own.

The panel provided concrete advice and support to child welfare practitioners across America who want to integrate Parent Advocates into their practice, or to improve effectiveness of existing parent advocate programs.