Columns and Opinion Pieces

Children's Law Center endeavors to raise public awareness and facilitate communication about issues affecting foster care practices. CLC believes that the child welfare system can achieve excellence when the public is informed and energized, policymakers align capacity and incentives with desired results, agency administrators encourage innovation and best practices, and the courts have the ability to track and manage cases effectively. Recent media communications from Children's Law Center include the following:

"Restoring Parental Rights: Giving Legal Orphans a Chance at a Family"
American Bar Association Journal "Child Law Practice," January, 2007

"Help Foster Kids Make the Grade"
Sacramento Bee, January 26, 2007

"On Foster Care Resolutions for our collective children"
San Francisco Chronicle, January 21, 2007

"It Was a Great Year for Helping Foster Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, November 22, 2006

"The Effect of Youth Presence on Dependency Court Proceedings"
Juvenile and Family Justice Today, Fall 2006

"How to help our judges make their most difficult calls"
San Francisco Chronicle, October 4, 2006

"Kudos for Chronicle"
San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 2006

"More Data Will Help Dependency Courts"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 10, 2006

"Foster-Care Youth Offer Key Insight on Reform"
June 28, 2006

"On foster care: Why foster care reform must happen"
San Francisco Chronicle, May 30, 2006

"Foster children need more community support"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, May 10, 2006

"A call to action on foster children"
San Francisco Chronicle, April 20, 2006

"Legislative reforms to help foster kids are insufficient without action"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 4, 2006

"Foster care reform requires flexibility"
San Jose Mercury News, March 19, 2006

"Out of the foster-care lifeboat"
San Francisco Chronicle, February 14, 2006

"Legal Guardianship - A Way Out of Foster Care"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 31, 2006

"Foster System's Success Hinges on Cooperation"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, December 12, 2005

"Let's make this a magical holiday for foster kids, too"
San Jose Mercury News, December 12, 2005

"Lawyer's High Debt, Low Pay Damage Foster Kids"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, November 10, 2005

"A 'Natural Disaster' for Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, October 12, 2005

"Foster children -- our second family"
San Francisco Chronicle, September 12, 2005

"Data-Sharing Could Ease 'Back-to-School' for Foster Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, August 31, 2005

"Resolution on Foster Care Reform by the American Bar Association"
August 8, 2005

"Report on Foster Care Reform by the American Bar Association"
August 8, 2005

"Resolution on Foster Care Reform by the National Association of Counsel for Children"
July 29, 2005

"Foster Children Pay Price for Overworked, Inadequate System"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 28, 2005

"Kids Without Family Need Extra Leg-Up Into Adulthood"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 28, 2005

"Living a Normal Life: California Legislation Lifts Restrictions on Foster Children's Activities"
American Bar Association Journal "Child Law Practice," Summer, 2005

"Interview of CLC Executive Director Miriam Krinsky"
The Tavis Smiley Show, PBS, May 26, 2005

"Voices of Pain, Hope, Survival Emerge in Foster Care Campaign"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, May 11, 2005

"Overwhelmed System Must Not Silence Voices of Foster Youth"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 15, 2005

"Treating Problems Piecemeal Won't Help Foster Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, February 17, 2005

"Adoption Process Can Render Kids Parentless"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, January 12, 2005

"Holiday Gifts Let Kids in Foster Care Have Better Lives"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, December 7, 2004

"Federal Budget Must Fund Better Programs for Neglected Kids"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, November 8, 2004

"Foster Care System Must Do More to Heal Its Ailing Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, September 28, 2004

"New Law Creates Human Lifeline for Foster Care Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, September 7, 2004

"Legal Community Must Promote Dependency-Court Reform"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 29, 2004

"Put Foster Kids With Relatives, Not Strangers, When Possible"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 6, 2004

"Educating All Foster Children Will Require Collaborative Spirit"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 2, 2004

"Dependency System Needs To Help Teens Parenting Children"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, April 26, 2004

"State Discards Kids In Black Hole Of Delinquency"
Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 29, 2004

"Bend Foster Care Rules So Families Don't Break"
Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2004