As a civil rights attorney, I desire to put my experience to work for your child.
I have been an attorney for almost 10 years. I began my practice advocating at the Connecticut Legal Rights Project on behalf of inpatient psychiatric patients by enforcing their right to humane and dignified treatment set out in the patient's bills of rights. I was exposed to individuals with severe mental disabilities and my passion to advocate for those who society would like to ignore was planted within me. I also saw the unfairness and inequality that comes when people with disabilities are warehoused. After passing the Connecticut bar exam in July 2000, I was licensed to enforce the laws Congress had passed to ensure equality for persons with disabilities. One such law is the Fair Housing Act. Intent on integrating people with disabilities into the community, I battled discriminatory landlords, zoning commissions, and ignorant people who just didn't want to or take the time to understand "those people".
New Haven Legal Assistance was where I was able to expand my skills in advocating for individuals and families effected by poverty. Mentored by stellar attorneys who were passionate about the calling to serve individuals society would like to ignore, and to ensure that justice prevails for all, I went to work. During my time there, I was able to represent children and youth charged with delinquent acts in juvenile court. I found a pattern of the public schools referring children for disability related behavior to the court rather than identifying them and providing them with the special education services they were legally entitled to. I represented children in IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings, expulsion hearings, manifestation IEPs, and due process hearings. I would also utilize the information from their educational neglect in the juvenile proceedings to assist the Judge in understanding the behavior of the child, and the system's failure to understand the needs of the child. We were able to make a systemic impact in stopping this "school to prison pipeline".
My husband, who is a law professor at Michigan State, and I then moved to Washington, D.C. where I continued my work serving children at the Children's Law Center. It was difficult and challenging work being a Guardian Ad Litem in Juvenile Court on behalf of abused and neglected children. At the Children's Law Center, we were focused solely on the child and his/her best interest in every system that he/she interfaced with: schools, foster homes, counseling, family visits, church, courts, doctors, psychiatrists, ect. In regards to the child's education, I attended IEPs and advocated for the correct identification of the child's disability and to have the school system put in place measurable standards to chart the child's progress.
I have learned even more since these life experiences by becoming a parent of two amazing children. My sense of injustice in educational systems is stirred more deeply when I think, what if that was my child? In January 2010, I opened my own law practice, Children's Advocacy Resources for Education. My mission is to serve you and your child in navigating through the educational process to obtain a free appropriate public education designed to meet your child's unique needs and prepare him/her for further education, employment, and independent living. This is the purpose of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004.
New Haven Legal Assistance was where I was able to expand my skills in advocating for individuals and families effected by poverty. Mentored by stellar attorneys who were passionate about the calling to serve individuals society would like to ignore, and to ensure that justice prevails for all, I went to work. During my time there, I was able to represent children and youth charged with delinquent acts in juvenile court. I found a pattern of the public schools referring children for disability related behavior to the court rather than identifying them and providing them with the special education services they were legally entitled to. I represented children in IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings, expulsion hearings, manifestation IEPs, and due process hearings. I would also utilize the information from their educational neglect in the juvenile proceedings to assist the Judge in understanding the behavior of the child, and the system's failure to understand the needs of the child. We were able to make a systemic impact in stopping this "school to prison pipeline".
My husband, who is a law professor at Michigan State, and I then moved to Washington, D.C. where I continued my work serving children at the Children's Law Center. It was difficult and challenging work being a Guardian Ad Litem in Juvenile Court on behalf of abused and neglected children. At the Children's Law Center, we were focused solely on the child and his/her best interest in every system that he/she interfaced with: schools, foster homes, counseling, family visits, church, courts, doctors, psychiatrists, ect. In regards to the child's education, I attended IEPs and advocated for the correct identification of the child's disability and to have the school system put in place measurable standards to chart the child's progress.
I have learned even more since these life experiences by becoming a parent of two amazing children. My sense of injustice in educational systems is stirred more deeply when I think, what if that was my child? In January 2010, I opened my own law practice, Children's Advocacy Resources for Education. My mission is to serve you and your child in navigating through the educational process to obtain a free appropriate public education designed to meet your child's unique needs and prepare him/her for further education, employment, and independent living. This is the purpose of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004.
