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The Organization of Child Representation Services in Child Welfare Cases: A Study of Washington State
Author(s) -
Zinn Andrew,
Orlebeke Britany,
Duquette Donald N.,
Zhou Xiaomeng
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
family court review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.171
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 1744-1617
pISSN - 1531-2445
DOI - 10.1111/fcre.12239
Subject(s) - representation (politics) , specialty , welfare , state (computer science) , private practice , legal service , law , psychology , public relations , business , medicine , political science , family medicine , algorithm , politics , computer science
To date no empirical studies have analyzed delivery of legal services to children and considered the implications of organizational structure for child representation practice. This study of 126 attorneys in Washington State compares children's lawyers working in solo practice, private law firms, and specialty staff attorney offices. The manner in which child representation is organized has lessons for the recruitment, training, and support of such lawyers. Staff attorney offices offer a number of advantages but rural areas with fewer cases may not be able to support such offices and the attorneys in specialty offices were less experienced and report lower incomes.