For more than four decades, Child Advocates staff social workers and lawyers have teamed with their Volunteer Attorneys to ensure that children who have experienced abuse and neglect receive the highest quality representation to address emotional, physical, educational, and behavioral health needs. Children like Derrick;
Derrick* was a baby when he entered the child welfare system due to severe physical abuse by his mother’s boyfriend. Child Advocates was assigned to his case and our team, made up of a dedicated Volunteer Attorney and staff social worker, quickly began advocating on Derrick’s behalf. Our team’s primary concern was Derrick’s foster care setting and his caregivers’ ability to understand his emotional and mental health needs. Our team collaborated with service providers and filed motions to have him placed with an alternative caregiver who better understood his background.
Our team also felt that Derrick’s school was not meeting his educational requirements. They advocated to have him evaluated and discovered that he had an unaddressed intellectual disability, necessitating a transfer to a specialized educational setting. Child Advocates obtained an Educational Decision Maker for Derrick and together with our Education Law Attorney, they presented a due process claim against the school district for compensatory education services to help him overcome the educational deficits that he sustained.
Child Advocates’ collaborated extensively with many service providers to ensure the best possible care and treatment for Derrick, including work with the Department of Human Services, Community Umbrella Agencies, therapists, psychiatrists, schools, and the Office of Intellectual Disabilities. Due to our advocacy and the help from these organizational partners, Derrick is now in a stable home environment where he is addressing his trauma history and receiving the educational services that he deserves.
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