Ohio is the first state to pilot numerous multi-disciplinary legal team projects where an attorney, social worker, and parent advocate assist parents in child custody cases.

Ohio is the first state to pilot numerous multi-disciplinary legal team projects where an attorney, social worker, and parent advocate assist parents in child custody cases.

The early successes of one Ohio court initiative to stabilize families entangled in child welfare concerns has led to the largest expansion by any state attempting similar improvements to its legal system.

The Child Welfare Quality Legal Representation Project, launched at Summit County Juvenile Court in January, has extended to an additional five pilot sites: Clark and Wayne county juvenile courts, Stark County Family Court, and the Cuyahoga and Erie county public defender offices.

There are only a few comparable programs in the nation. Ohio is the only state piloting multiple projects simultaneously.

“This is just the latest example of Ohio’s courts finding innovative ways to resolve difficult issues,” said Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor. “Few problems are as significant as those affecting children and families in our communities.”

The multi-disciplinary legal team model is a new approach to aiding families involved in abuse, neglect, and dependency cases.

To improve outcomes of traditional court proceedings, the pilot project links parents with a legal team including an attorney, social worker, and a parent advocate – a peer mentor who has navigated the children services and juvenile court systems.

The Summit County project, which addresses matters once a complaint has been filed by a local children services agency, has handled 11 cases so far, reunifying three families and affecting six children.

The new pilot sites will focus their efforts in a preventative manner to support families before the need for children services involvement. This strategy is known as “pre-petition.”

The project's partners are the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund, which received $850,000 in federal grants from the Court Improvement Program. The funding source is the Office of the Administration for Children and Families under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Those with questions about Ohio’s Legal Representation Pilot Program can email David Edelblute or Debra Copeland, the Supreme Court’s Children and Families Section representatives.