TCBA Spotlight - Tulsa Lawyers for Children

In 2000, Tulsa Lawyers for Children (“TLC”) was incorporated to ensure legal services for Tulsa County’s abused and neglected children involved in child welfare cases when conflicts prevent representation by the Tulsa County Office of the Public Defender. Child welfare cases, also referred to as deprived cases, are a niche arena of legal procedures designed with the intent to “provide the foundation and process for state intervention into the parent-child relationship whenever the circumstances of a family threaten the safety of a child and to properly balance the interests of the [parents, child, and state].” 10A O.S. § 1-1-102(B). Deprived cases are designed to react to allegations of abuse and neglect, including substance abuse, domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and medical neglect, and when possible provide rehabilitative services to assist in the safe reunification of families.

When a deprived case is initiated, the children involved are guaranteed legal representation. In Oklahoma, an expressed interest state, attorneys for children are required to maintain as normalized an attorney-client relationship as possible and advocate for the child’s expressed wishes and goals. While there are nuanced positions in every case, advocacy generally aims to achieve the client’s preferred permanency plan, i.e. reunification with family, guardianship, adoption, or planned alternative placement (also referred to as aging out of custody). In situations where the child lacks competency to direct an attorney’s representation, attorneys for children are statutorily required to substitute their judgment for the child based on objective criteria and advocate for a position which serves the best interest of the child.

In Tulsa County, the Office of the Public Defender has a department, consisting of four attorneys, representing approximately 1400 children in deprived cases. However, conflicts in representation can arise when there are pending criminal matters against parents who are represented by an assistant public defender or, because we are an expressed interest state, when siblings disagree and desire different legal outcomes in their case. These conflicts require the assistant public defender withdraw from representation, which leaves a child without legal representation. TLC fills this gap.

When an assistant public defender withdraws from representation, the judges of the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice appoint TLC. In turn, TLC assigns a staff attorney to immediately represent the interests of the child pending assignment of the client to a volunteer attorney who donates their time and skills to represent children. TLC recruits, trains, and mentors these volunteer attorneys, asking them to meet with their clients monthly, to advise and counsel their clients about the legal system and the facts of the case, and to advocate for the clients’ expressed interests in and out of court. In some situations, the underlying case is particularly complicated or the children are placed in homes outside of Tulsa County. When this occurs, staff attorneys remain assigned to the child and continue to provide legal representation.

In 2021, TLC provided legal representation for 272 children, 15.9% of Tulsa County Children involved with Oklahoma Human Services. TLC is exploring opportunities to increase capacity, seeking sufficient funding to hire a third staff attorney, allowing each attorney to be assigned to one of the three primary deprived dockets. There are four deprived dockets in Tulsa County: two general child welfare dockets, one Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) docket, and one Family Treatment Court Docket. The ICWA and general child welfare dockets are the largest dockets. Only when certain factors exist in a case, including significant

substance abuse, may the case be transferred to the Family Treatment Court Docket, so these cases would be followed by the initially assigned attorney and that docket does not require its own attorney. This will reduce how often each staff attorney faces a week in jury trial, reduce the number of days each attorney spends in court, and permit them to have a much more active role in the training and mentorship of volunteers with cases in their court room.

Tulsa Lawyers for Children is actively seeking attorneys within the community interested in serving children. In addition to the support provided by TLC’s staff and executive director, TLC provides a wealth of resources on their website (with free registration) and in trainings on child welfare law and practice throughout the year. For example, TLC, in collaboration with the National Association of Counsel for Children and Haruv USA, is developing an Oklahoma-specific training to introduce an evidence-based best practice model of legal representation of children for TLC volunteers and those in the legal community throughout the state working with children. The QIC-ChildRep Best Practice Model, developed by the U.S. Children’s Bureau and the University of Michigan Law School, was empirically tested in Georgia and Washington to determine the impact of the model on a randomly assigned group of attorneys. The group of QIC Modeltrained attorneys initiated more contact with their clients, increased communication with others involved in the case, were more likely to be involved in conflict resolution and negotiations, and observed a measurable improvement in permanency outcomes for children. TLC is proud to announce the inaugural presentation of this new two-day training on August 11 and 12, 2022. Participation is absolutely free and CLE will be requested. For more information on registration for the training or opportunities to volunteer, please contact TLC at volunteer@tulsakidlaw.org.

Over the years, Tulsa Lawyers for Children has been blessed by the support of many local philanthropic foundations, including the Oklahoma Bar Foundation and the Tulsa County Bar Foundation. In 2021, these grants made up about 60% of TLC’s operations income. Another 24% of their income was from a federal grant with strict limitations on its use. Additionally, last year, TLC did receive assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program, which was also quite restrictive on its use. Unfortunately, only 5.5% of TLC’s funding in 2021 was from individuals, law firms, and local corporations. While TLC absolutely appreciates the annual grants received from Oklahoma foundations, there is a significant desire to see growth in financial support of TLC from Tulsa individuals, law firms, and corporations. These types of gifts often provide a level of freedom, not otherwise available, to experiment with expanding services to the children served and the volunteers supported. Please consider supporting TLC on an annual basis at a level comfortable to you. Every $100 received funds one month of legal representation for a Tulsa child.

For more information about Tulsa Lawyers, check out their website, www.tulsalawyersforchildren. org, like their Facebook page, and register for their newsletter.

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