Dear Colleagues:

I've been at the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) Conference in Baltimore this week. It's been so inspiring, and I've learned so much! I cannot recommend highly enough that attorneys who work in child dependency court join NACC and have access to the high-quality trainings, best practices, and cutting-edge research in the field. The NACC newsletter provides information and practice tips so that's a good resource as well.

Attached:? NACC's updated and revised its recommendations for high-quality legal representation of children and youth in neglect and abuse proceedings. The NACC recommendations have been incorporated into many states' standards of practice for child welfare counsel.??The new recommendations draw upon input from many different players in the system, including lived-experience experts: youth who have been in foster care and have insights into what they need in their GALs and attorneys.

A hard copy of the recommendations is available for $10 from the NACC, but I have attached the PDF. It's an excellent guide to improving how we represent children and youth in the child welfare system.

I have been a member of NACC since 2017. This is my third NACC conference. They all have been so valuable. Seeing the transformation in our thinking about families and children gives me hope. Hearing stories of children and parents who have experienced the system has brought me to tears more than once this week.?

I've also taken a lot of notes about how I and other Virginia attorneys can improve practice in dependency cases. And I've connected with attorneys from Virginia and across the country about the problems inherent in our system, and how they can be addressed. I hope you can join me at the NACC conference next August--it will be in Minneapolis.

There's a wealth of resources on the website as well. And, NACC wants to hear from you!

Valerie

NACC Virginia State Coordinator