Legal Advocacy for Youth

We provide direct legal representation for youth to empower them so that they may be decision makers within their own lives.

Direct Representation Program

The Direct Representation Program provides older youth in the child welfare system with an attorney experienced in working with older youth and well-versed in child welfare laws. In addition, the program connects youth with a Support Advocate who is well-informed regarding available therapeutic services, community based mentoring organizations, residential facility programs, and ways to ensure a child’s medical needs are met.

If you know of a child in a CHINS/TPR case who would like an attorney and they are currently removed from their home and 12 years of age or older, please go to this link to make a confidential referral.

Direct Representation Referral Form

Why do children need lawyers?

Attorneys are guaranteed to parents and the Department of Child Services, but not guaranteed to the most important person. . . the child. By providing youth with attorneys of their own, the Direct Representation Program gives children the opportunity to take control of their own lives. We amplify their voices in the courtroom and during case planning meetings. Making life decisions is one of the most important life skills teenagers practice, and a basic right all youth deserve to experience.

For all additional questions, please contact the Director of the Direct Representation Program, Rachel Vilensky at rachel@childadvocates.net.

Did you know?

Indiana is currently one of 14 states that does not guarantee legal representation to youth in the child welfare system.

In Indiana, the one person at the center of a child welfare case… the child… is the one who is not guaranteed a lawyer.

Between 2015 and 2019, the time youth spent in the system increased by 43%, with youth waiting a median time of 620 days to be placed in a permanent placement.

According to the National Association of Counsel for Children, youth in the child welfare system represented by specially trained lawyers are 40% more likely to leave the foster care system and find permanency within the first 6 months.