Real Living Adoption Child Welfare and Felicia Beth Nekritz Juvenile Law Fellowships

 FYLAW Fellowship Program Goal
 

The FYLaw Fellowship program is designed to provide Capital University Law School students interested in this practice area with a specialized law school experience, including unique educational, extracurricular, and employment opportunities. The program was established with the goal of developing a cohort of highly trained legal advocates to advance the interests of children and their families in communities both locally and nationally.

Many factors place children and youth at risk of involvement with our nation’s delinquency and child protection court systems, including child abuse and neglect, substance abuse, mental health needs, and educational issues. Of the 900,000 children served by the child welfare system, 114,000 foster care children wait for safe, permanent homes because their biological parents’ rights have been terminated. Thousands of these youths exit the foster care system without the skills needed for successful independent living, leaving them vulnerable to unemployment, homelessness, and criminal behavior.

Successful outcomes and futures for these children and youth are dependent on talented and dedicated legal professionals acting in all capacities within our child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Well-trained, highly qualified child advocates, agency counsel, government attorneys, and juvenile judges can make all the difference between a youth’s successful transition into adulthood and a youth’s continued struggle in the system.

Real Living Adoption & Child Welfare Law Fellowship 

Adoption and child welfare law encompass a wide range of complex and challenging aspects. Adoption law professionals deal with termination of parental rights, parental consent, wrongful adoption, race and cultural issues, sexual orientation issues, and international issues. Child welfare and adoption practitioners grapple with systemic issues impacting the 500,000 children in foster care in the United States, which includes about 114,000 children who have been freed for adoption and who are waiting for permanent, loving homes. Each year, approximately 20,000 children in foster care will age out of the system without ever being placed with a permanent family. Qualified, highly trained attorneys are needed to advocate for the children, families, and child-serving agencies which come before the nation’s courts.