What is Children right law? This refers to a point where law interconnects with the life of a child. The law dictates that every child should have access to quality health care, education, appropriate representation in juvenile court system, care and protection regardless of the race, gender, religion, abilities or disability. Public interest law practically affects children in one way or the other and ethical issues that govern the welfare of a child are highly neglected. As a result competent and committed advocates and attorneys in children right laws are needed to appropriately represent the needs of the child.
This guide will offer concrete suggestions for anyone wishing to pursue a career in children right law. It will also include descriptions of content areas, practice setting and academic paths.
You may practice in either of these settings when representing a child.
- Legal services –These are agencies which rely on the government for funding and devote part of their work on children legal issues. They generally focus on social security, education, juvenile court and health matters. Children are represented by a part time or full time attorney in the court matters.
- Non-profit Organization-They rely on private grant and government funding to deliver the legal services. The attorney works with other teams to represent the child.
- Government –Government agencies have attorney who actively represent children cases. Some of these agencies dealing with children rights include; mental health, education, Youth services, developmental disability and social services
- Private firms-Private attorney represent the child through arrangements made by the parent. These firms also provide legal representation and advice to departments that work with the children.
Here we are going to focus on, Care and Protection, Juvenile Justice, Health Care and Education Some organizations may perform work on one or more of these content areas when representing children on legal matters.
- Care and protection: When children suffer neglect and abuse at their homes they need to seek services provided by states protection agencies. In this situation, the judge represents the interests of the child with the aim of deciding whether to remove that child from the hostile environment.
- Juvenile Justice: This system addresses all issues that relate to children charged with criminal behaviour such as felony, assault and battery, possession and or distribution of drugs among others. Children under this system need to be handled with special treatment.
- Health care: Children require proper legal representation to ensure that proper medical decisions are made on their behalf. The individual interests of children including those with mental health disability should be protected at all costs.
- Education: Here the attorney with the help of the individual clients ensures that quality education services in terms of curriculum development and teachers’ qualifications are provided in schools. On matters of school discipline, child laws also demand that there’s proper representation before expulsion or suspension decisions are made.
This course focuses on child welfare, juvenile system, education and strategies on changing policy and law.
With the great understanding provided by this guide, if you feel passionate in representing children in legal matters, attending a law school will be of great help. In case you encounter child abuse case use child support contact for the child support agencies to intervene