The abstract submission deadline for our 40th National Child Welfare, Juvenile and Family Law Conference has been extended to Wednesday, February 15th. You have great ideas and knowledge, and we want you to share! Submit here and get a waived registration to the New Orleans conference if we select your presentation. 

The American Bar Association is creating a Homeless Youth Legal Network to increase legal services for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. This Network will provide information and foster collaboration in order to help attorneys and other advocates address existing gaps in legal services, and improve outcomes for homeless youth and young adults, including those transitioning from the child welfare system and exiting the juvenile justice system.

The ABA Homeless Youth Legal Network is currently looking to connect with attorneys, as well as legal and youth-serving organizations, to identify professionals who may wish to participate in the Network, as well as to determine the current scope of legal services provided to homeless youth across the country. (This includes civil legal matters, juvenile and criminal defense, and policy work/impact litigation for minors as well as young adults through at least age 25.) 

If you are an attorney/legal office representing homeless youth, or a homeless youth organization that either partners with legal providers or is interested in partnering with legal providers, please complete this brief survey and sign up to be part of the Network's listserv by e-mailing hyln@americanbar.org.

Child Welfare Law and Practice: Representing Children, Parents, and State Agencies in Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency Cases (AKA The Red Book) is now in its 3rd edition and available in soft and hard cover versions.  All NACC members receive 20% off The Red Book. Visit Bradford Publishing and use code NACC at check out for your discount.

NACC Silver and Gold Members receive a copy of The Red Book as a membership benefit. Consider upgrading your membership during your next renewal!

Child Trends
Decisions by the new administration and the new Congress will have immediate and long-term consequences for the nation's 74 million children. There is an abundance of research to help inform upcoming policy deliberations. Child Trends has prepared a series of policy briefs that review the state of this research, the state of the field, and research-based recommendations for several key issues.

JJIE
The mental conditioning aspects of TV news coverage and police-based reality programs not only directly and indirectly influence the disproportionate treatment of minority youth, they are also associated with greater support for punitive measures.

Youth Today
Foster Youth in Action is a national network of state foster youth advocacy organizations dedicated to elevating youth voices to make policy changes at the local, state and federal level.

The Chronicle of Social Change
With the notable exception of the fate of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, there’s nothing doing yet on youth-related issues and the White House. But Youth Services Insider did recently notice that Trump's transition team for HHS did have one youth services vet on it: Patrick Lawler, who has served as CEO of the Tennessee-based nonprofit Youth Villages since it was founded in 1986. Lawler fits the description for what YSI thought this administration might look for in terms of child welfare leadership: executives who have run big, private-side organizations.

The Center for Public Integrity
A new initiative represents nothing short of a revolution in how education is financed for more than 6.2 million students in the country’s biggest state.

The Hill
One reason it’s so important that we know how schools are disciplining our students is to ensure that punishment is apportioned fairly. Studies show that black students are disciplined at far greater rates than their white counterparts for similar violations, and it starts as soon as they enter the education system. Students who are suspended or expelled are nearly three times more likely to be in contact with the juvenile justice system within a year. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos gives little assurance that she will prioritize the needs of black children in our schools.

Thank you to our newest Gold member, Elizabeth Armstrong in Fort Smith Arkansas.  We truly appreciate your support of NACC and the work we do.

East Bay Children's Law Offices, Inc. (EBCLO) is seeking an exceptional person to lead a strong team including attorneys and social workers who represent children and youth in the juvenile dependency court. This leader must be committed to high quality legal advocacy, through a holistic approach, to provide young clients with a voice in the decisions affecting their lives both in and out of court. The new Executive Director will have a unique opportunity to work with the Board and staff to expand and deepen services for children who need lawyers.