Center for Family Representation - Non profit Law & Policy Organization

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About CFR:
Strengthening Families in Crisis

Supporting Vulnerable Teens: Our Young Parents Project

Sharing What Works: Local & National Training

Helping Families Be Heard: Changing the System

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Thank you for visiting our site — and for sharing our belief that every family matters.

Our mission is to keep families together.  We provide families in crisis with free legal assistance and social work services to enable children to stay with their parents safely.  CFR works to keep kids out of foster care entirely or keep their time in care to a minimum.

Our model is groundbreaking.  Each family is assisted by a lawyer, a social worker, and a Parent Advocate — a trained professional who has experienced the child welfare system and can empathize with the struggles vulnerable families face.

Our clients are especially vulnerable.  100% live in poverty, 95% are people of color, 80% are women, and 27% are under the age of 25.  Our clients struggle with issues like domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness, and mental illness, which our teams help them to overcome through intensive, specialized services.

Our reach is broad and expanding.  In the past year we served 1,300 families in Manhattan and Queens through our innovative model.  CFR also provides training to child welfare advocates across the city, state, and country to give families everywhere the chance to stay together.

Our financial impact is significant.  At least 86 cents on every dollar goes directly to programming, and our services cost an average of just $5,900 per family — versus a minimum of $29,000 per child in the foster care system.  In one year, CFR's services resulted in $9 million in taxpayer savings.

Your generosity is crucial to our work.  Please read on to learn more about CFR and the ways you can help vulnerable families to heal and thrive.

Young CFR Mom to Receive Special Donation

CFR is thrilled that our client Shaina, a young mother with small children, will receive an incredible gift of two years' worth of clothing and supplies for her baby daughter Savannah!   This generous donation comes from nonprofit partner Baby Buggy, founded by Jessica Seinfeld to provide new and gently used clothing and equipment for children to thousands of families in New York and Los Angeles.

Shaina is so deserving of this gift, having overcome many obstacles in her young life.  As a child, she was neglected by her mother and grew up in the foster care system.  She was living in a homeless shelter when her children were removed from her care.  Read Shaina's full story to learn how her CFR team helped her reunify her family.

Since 2008, Baby Buggy has provided more than 200 CFR parents with much-needed children's items, from diapers to strollers to cribs.  Thank you to Baby Buggy for their ongoing commitment to CFR and New York’s families!

Help Families Stay Together in the New Year

In 2011, CFR provided legal and social work services to 1,300 families with nearly 2,500 children—and we kept half these children out of the foster care system entirely. For those in care, we kept their stays well below city and state averages and we saved $9 million in taxpayer dollars.

Your support helps CFR achieve these phenomenal results.

To help continue CFR's record in the New Year, please consider making a year-end, tax-deductible gift to CFR today.

Your support will ensure that New York’s families can stay together safely—and permanently.

Thank you and have a Happy New Year!

CFR Impacts Family Court Guidelines

In a recent New York Times article, CFR Executive Director Susan Jacobs was quoted on the subject of public access to family court proceedings. As a result of attention to this issue, the New York State Office of Court Administration recently released new guidelines that will ensure that courtrooms remain open to the public, except in instances where exclusion is deemed necessary by the judge. You can read this New York Law Journal article for a full examination of the subject.


		CFR: Every Family Matters Our new videos demonstrate how two young moms brought their families back together with support and advocacy from their CFR teams. As a young mom dealing with mental health issues, Nikki's infant son was wrongfully removed from her care. After facing a horrible tragedy, Michelle's family was wrenched even further apart by the child welfare system.

Friends of CFR Celebrate Families

Thanks to the 250 attendees of Celebrating Families 2011 held at Capitale on November 3rd, CFR raised a record amount of funds to support our work on behalf of New York's children and families!

In attendance were new acquaintances and longtime friends, Board and Junior Board members, CFR program staff, and members of New York’s most prominent law firms, financial institutions, foundations, and more.

CFR was proud to honor Linda I. Gibbs, Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services, with the Visionary Award, as well as Sidley Austin LLP with the Legal Champion Award.

The event also premiered CFR's newest video featuring client Nicole Franz, a young mother from Queens who reunified her family with CFR's help. Most excitingly, Nicole was honored with the Spirit Award for being an inspirational parent who embodies the spirit of CFR.

For fond memories of Celebrating Families, view our Facebook album and be sure to become a fan of CFR!

Thank you to all who attended. If you could not come to the event but would like to support CFR's work, please make a donation today!

Pro Bono Attorney Files Appeal for
CFR Dad in Minor Marijuana Case

Did you know that you can win your case in court, but still not get your children back? Thanks to appeals by pro bono attorneys, however, CFR clients still have a fighting chance.

CFR would like to sincerely thank one of our newest pro bono partners, David A. Paul of Leader & Berkon LLP, for his dedication in helping CFR advocate on behalf of disadvantaged families and change how the system handles minor marijuana cases.

David attended CFR's 2010 Celebrating Families gala and was moved by the harsh reality of the connection between poverty and child welfare prosecutions. After the event, David recognized the need to help and called CFR to offer his services. He recently filed an appellate brief on behalf of CFR and a father who admitted to recreational use of marijuana and will argue this appeal for CFR in October.

Read more.

CFR Featured in the New York Times

CFR’s Executive Director Susan Jacobs and former client Jose Gunnell were recently quoted in a New York Times article that examines how easily families can be separated by the child welfare system when parents are charged with minor marijuana violations.

Jose took full custody of his daughter when her mother could not care for her, rather than let her be placed in foster care. She was just 12 days old—he was just 21. Because he had grown up in foster care, as had his mother before him, Jose was willing to do whatever it took to prevent the same from happening to his daughter. He worked two jobs and relied on help from members of his church to care for his daughter. He also moved into a family shelter because the court did not allow him to live with the child's mother and maintain custody...

Read Jose’s full story here

Photo by Michael Kamber for the New York Times

100 Kids Receive Backpacks
Backpack Drive

Thanks to the CFR Junior Board and many generous friends of CFR, 100 children of CFR's clients received backpacks and school supplies this school year through the Back to School Backpack Drive!

View our photo album to see the many smiling faces of CFR kids who are attending school with the tools they need to succeed.

Special thanks to our sponsors, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Bauman Katz & Grill LLP for their generous support.


		CFR Parent Advocate featured in Child Welfare and Parent Advocacy Publications When CFR first met Ebonie King, her son Parrish was in foster care and she was addicted to crack cocaine. Her CFR lawyer, social worker, and Parent Advocate helped her overcome her addiction, get her own apartment, and most importantly, regain custody of her son. Since then, Ebonie has made remarkable progress and is a true CFR success story! In November, CFR was proud to honor Ebonie with the Spirit Award at our *Celebrating Families* gala. And even more excitingly, Ebonie joined CFR as a Parent Advocate in February! She is now working to enable other struggling parents reunify their families. "CFR gave me confidence by acknowledging all the hard work I've done as a parent," says Ebonie. "I believe in the work we do and hope that we inspire others." Ebonie's remarkable story has been featured in numerous publications. You can read her article in the American Bar Association's Child Law Practice. Or read her current feature in Rise Magazine, an online publication for parents involved in the child welfare system. To see photos featuring Ebonie from last year's gala, visit our Photo Album.

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