Fighting the Family Police: Integrating Early Family Defense into Family Civil Legal Aid Clinics

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Hotel: N/A

Room: Franciscan C

Floor: Ballroom Level

What if all individuals investigated by the family police (“child protection agencies”) had access to legal representation at the outset? The work of early family defense (or “pre-petition” defense) provides individuals being investigated and/or subjected to ongoing surveillance by the family police access to legal representation. Abolitionists of the family policing system have identified early legal representation as one non-reformist way to fight a system of oppression that disproportionately impacts Black, brown, and Indigenous families. Expanding traditional family law clinics to incorporate early family defense provides an opportunity for students to engage critically with systems that harm the lives of marginalized families. Client centered advocacy demands clinical programs evolved to meet unmet needs of the community. The Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) and the Family Justice Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC) are two clinics expanding their family law practices into early family defense. This session will explore the challenges and opportunities of incorporating a new practice area while continuing the ongoing work of a clinic. Panelists will delve into how they came to the work and how this shift will impact their clinical teaching and the student experience. Attendees are welcome to share insights from experiences they have responding to movements in the clinical space.