Protecting Children

Erik Splett and Cindy Moyer

The Children’s Law Center of Minnesota opened in 1995 to promote the rights and interests of children in the judicial, child welfare, health care and education systems. Throughout the years, more than 30 past and present Fredrikson lawyers have represented children in foster care, empowering them to use their voice to speak up for themselves. Children in foster care are extremely vulnerable and often scared after being placed into the system. This can lead to issues that prevent them from finding permanency. One of the goals of Children’s Law Center is to help children by providing them with a consistent, reliable and unfailing advocate.

Erik Splett represents a 16-year-old child who has bounced between foster homes and shelters for three years. Erik is assisting the child with a formal foster placement which will ideally lead to adoption. At the last review hearing, everyone was optimistic that the child would find permanency soon.

Children’s Law Center’s staff provide resources and guidance on many legal issues relating to children being represented by volunteers. Volunteers sometimes provide legal research and advise on issues that impact the work of the organization and the children in foster care. This year, Cindy Moyer and summer associate Megan Massie looked at a unique legal issue relating to the interstate compact placement of children. Often children who are removed from their custodial parents for safety reasons are placed with their non-custodial parents until specific safety and other issues are resolved. Sometimes the non-custodial parent lives in another state, and many states differ in placement requirements. Cindy and Megan looked to the Interstate Placement of Children statute to help determine if a parental placement in another state requires the compact be completed prior to placement and whether Minnesota has agreements with other states to address this.

Fredrikson’s partnership and commitment to Children’s Law Center and to the children in foster care is long-standing. Lilia Panteleeva stated:

“Over the years, countless attorneys from Fredrikson & Byron have partnered with CLC to help provide quality legal representation to our growing number of child clients. The firm’s attorneys and staff are an invaluable part of CLC’s pro bono representation of foster children. In fact, over the past 15 years, Fredrikson & Byron lawyers have donated hundreds of pro bono hours with a value of over 2 million dollars to CLC and our clients. Fredrikson’s lawyers are zealous advocates ensuring that CLC’s clients’ voices are heard, that they maintain contact with their siblings, preventing unwarranted movements between placements, and fighting aggressively in court for what our clients want. They also have a long history of providing CLC with expert Amicus and appellate assistance. In addition, since our inception, Fredrikson has continuously provided CLC with a variety of support. For example, Fredrikson assisted CLC with its incorporation. For years the firm has provided CLC with pro bono IT support, enabling us to save thousands of dollars and operate more effectively and efficiently, ultimately passing on the benefit to our clients. In 2013, Fredrikson and Byron provided CLC with office space and administrative support for three weeks during our office renovation. In recent years, Fredrikson & Byron has generously provided CLC with critical assistance through the firm’s Government Affairs Department to help CLC navigate legislative changes to ensure legal representation for foster care youth throughout Minnesota, as well as to secure new government funding to support our work. CLC is extremely grateful to Fredrikson & Byron for helping us achieve our goal of giving children in foster care a voice in the systems that affect their lives. As a recognized hero for children, we are grateful for all the firm and its lawyers and staff have done for our organization and the children in foster care.”