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A LAWYER FOR EVERY CHILD: CLIENT‐DIRECTED REPRESENTATION IN DEPENDENCY CASES
Author(s) -
Taylor LaShanda
Publication year - 2009
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/j.1744-1617.2009.01277.x
Subject(s) - legislation , dependency (uml) , representation (politics) , state (computer science) , law , political science , psychology , computer science , politics , software engineering , algorithm
The article begins with a due process analysis concluding that children are legally entitled to counsel and continues by presenting examples of federal and state legislation, court decisions, and public policy arguments that support this right. The article then goes a step further to advocate for a traditional, client‐directed model of representation, which empowers children and leads to better judicial decision making. Finally, the article discusses the impact of high caseloads and lack of training on attorney performance. This article serves as an important addition to the academic literature examining the need for and role of the child's attorney in dependency proceedings.