It Takes Legal Warriors to Advocate for Children in Foster Care

Considering a legal career advocating for children? Shari Shink, founder of Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, explains what it takes.
The post It Takes Legal Warriors to Advocate for Children in Foster Care appeared first on Articles, Tips and Tech for Law Firms and Lawyers.

A legal career focused on child advocacy in foster care will bring you immeasurable joy, says the founder of Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, but it requires a warrior mindset. You will be challenging powerful institutions and individual inertia.

In my last year of college, I knew I wanted to go to law school but didn’t know how I would use the law. So, I took a year off and became the assistant director of a daycare for kids ages three to five. During that year, among other things, I taught the kids to dance. We put on a performance and invited kids from all the other daycare centers around my area of Pittsburgh. 

I was sitting on the floor cross-legged, instructing the kids of mostly single mothers, when I had this epiphany: These are the kids I want to use my law degree for. 

Choosing a Legal Career as a Child Advocate

People have asked me how I’ve managed to advocate for kids in foster care for the last 50 years. It was as simple as that moment. I must admit, doing this work has not been without its personal costs. But the rewards have been more than worth it. 

I’m sure this is true for many advocates in other sectors, too. But my constituency is among the most vulnerable: abused and neglected children removed from their homes. They had no power at home, they have no power in the foster care system, and they have no power at the polls. Thus, they have no way of getting what they need to survive, much less thrive, unless an adult provides it. 

To the young lawyers thinking about doing this kind of work on behalf of children, understand that you will be challenging powerful institutions and, in many cases, individual inertia.

If you focus solely on the needs of children and not on maintaining the status quo, you will not make many friends. Some individuals will push back in favor of comfort and avoiding controversy, and organizations will block creativity and innovation in favor of the way “we’ve always done it.”

Sadly, the battle will always be uphill.

I’m OK with all that because, despite the challenges and disappointments, I can say I’ve made a difference in thousands of children’s lives. I’ve helped keep kids out of abusive homes and reunited others with overwhelmed parents who had earned a second chance, even if no one else took the time to see that. Some successes have been as small as getting a would-be hockey player the equipment he needed; others as major as making sure a toddler stayed with the only family he’d ever known, in this case, a foster family, rather than being shuttled off to relatives he’d never met. 

A joyful triumph was keeping a 14-year-old boy who’d assaulted three staff members in a group home from going to lock up. He’d been moved 18 times in seven years. No wonder he acted out. Imagine how deep his trauma ran. After spending time with him, I learned of his love of horses. I tried to locate a rancher willing to help. After 42 phone calls and sleepless nights, I found one. That relationship gave the court an alternative option which the judge was eager to implement and changed the direction of this child’s life.

The more than 368,000 children who are in foster care across America are in need of adults willing to go that extra mile, and then another mile after that. I wish it were always the case that they got this help.

To be blunt, the foster care system overall was a mess when I became part of it straight out of law school, and it’s still a mess now, decades later.

As the founder of the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, the first non-profit law firm for abused and neglected kids in Colorado, I believe we made an extraordinary difference. Yet, so much more needs to be done. 

What Does It Take to Advocate for Children in Foster Care?

To do this work, one needs to be a warrior driven by passion, integrity, fearlessness, courage, tenacity and, importantly, a willingness to take risks.

My philosophy is that there is no compromise when it comes to the well-being of children. That may mean advocating with everything you’ve got for the birth parents — and sometimes equally hard against them. But in the end, the fight is always for the child — one I’ve taken to Juvenile Courts, the State Legislature, the Governor and even the Colorado Supreme Court.

Would-be child advocates need to recognize that they’ll be joining a system in order to rail against it. This is no place for go-with-the-flow types.

Mostly, it’s important not to care what other people think of you, except maybe that you’re willing to go to the wall to win on behalf of your often invisible client. Done well, it’s a huge commitment and one that can be emotionally exhausting. 

I don’t mean to scare anyone, especially young professionals who are attracted to advocacy work. But if you are a warrior and have the passion and the courage, please join the fight. There are so many kids who need you. You will experience immeasurable joy and reap the benefits of knowing you made the world a better place.

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