Family Defense Clinic

The Family Defense Clinic is a 12-credit semester-long clinic that supports communities targeted by family policing through representation and advocacy. Student attorneys will be assigned to one of FDP?s current dockets. FDP?s work falls into three broad categories: direct representation and community support and complex litigation. Our direct representation docket currently includes: representing parents in hearings before administrative tribunals to remove their names from the SCR; families seeking to invoke their right to legal representation during an ACS investigation and families in Article 10 neglect proceedings in family court. Our community support work includes working with community-based partners and law firms on Freedom of Information Law requests and litigation seeking information regarding ACS? investigation practices and delivery of a Know Your Rights workshop focusing on ACS investigations and home searches. Our complex litigation includes representing parents in a Federal Tort Claims Act case involving the US State Department?s seizure of a child abroad and subsequent placement in foster care in New York City.