CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY When the systems designed to protect the legal interests and rights of Connecticut’s poor children fall short, these youngsters still have another resource on their side.It’s the Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA).
Founded in 1997 and supported by Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) grants, the center specializes in the many aspects and systems involved in children’s law. CCA offers individual legal representation to vulnerable children who are victims of abuse and neglect, or have personal challenges, such as special education or mental health needs.The center works with: Families who need legal advocacy to determine what to do if they live in sub-standard housing and suffer illness that is often related to poor living conditions Youth who have questions about immigration and citizenship Teens who need confidential health care or suffer from domestic violence issues
The center also recommends changes to the state's child welfare, health and mental health, educational and juvenile justice systems. These systems are designed to protect these children, but too often do not meet their needs. Past CT Health support includes a $142,800 two-year general grant in 2003, helping ensure the center can continue its invaluable work.
"One recent legal effort resulted in a settlement in which the state will invest $8.5 million additional dollars into community-based treatment to divert youth from residential treatment facilities," says Martha Stone, the center's executive director. "For the first time, youth in this system will have access to innovative treatment options." CCA firmly believes in investing in peers and colleagues through skill development, information-sharing and collaboration. Through its KidsCounsel training program, the center provides resources and bimonthly training seminars to attorneys who represent children. A partnership created among the University of Connecticut schools of law, social work and medicine allows the schools to work with CCA to address the children's mental health care crisis in Hartford and around the state. In a related activity, each semester the center hosts several law student interns for training in legal advocacy.
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