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Q2, 2008

Upcoming Events

Champions for Children Cycling Team Rides the Triple Bypass
50 dedicated cyclists train together to complete this difficult ride for the maltreated children of Colorado. These cyclists have already raised $62,763 of their $75K goal to support the Children's Law Center. For more information or to make a donation visit CFCCycling.com
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July 12th
Evergreen to Avon
Contact Sara Payne at 303.302.9910 or spayne@law.du.edu for details.

27 years of heroic efforts on behalf of abused children.

The Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center works to save the lives of maltreated children through zealous legal advocacy, ground-breaking therapeutic programs and public policy reform.

To better understand how we make a difference in children’s lives, The Children’s Law Center recently examined the cases closed in 2007 to track outcomes for our child clients. This allowed us to examine the outcomes for 147 of our 500 child clients. We are proud to report that The Children’s Law Center is achieving dramatic results for the abused and neglected children we represent.

Children’s Law Center staff attorneys:

Ensured 86% of our child clients were placed in safe, permanent homes within 18 months of being removed from their abuser(s);
Ensured 100% of siblings were placed together from the outset or in permanent placement when appropriate;
Ensured 98% of our child clients received mental health services; and
Eliminated 75% of arbitrary moves among our child clients.

Above and Beyond: Never Stop Fighting for a Child's Safety

Ashley is a nine-year-old girl who struggles with diabetes and behavior issues. Ashley’s teacher reported her family to social services because her mother was not meeting Ashley’s needs by doing drugs and staying out late at the bars while Ashley was at home alone. A court case was initiated and the court appointed Susan as Ashley’s Children’s Law Center attorney. During Susan’s investigation to determine Ashley’s best interests, she discovered that Ashley’s mother was involved with a man previously suspected of being a sex offender.

Despite this high risk to Ashley and Susan’s recommendation to the Court not to keep Ashley with her mother, the Court ordered that Ashley remain in the home. Unwilling to accept this outcome and remaining convinced that Ashley was in imminent danger, Susan appealed the Court’s decision and fought for her client. After two failed efforts at an appeal, she discovered new evidence regarding the boyfriend which she presented to the Judge and the Judge overturned his own ruling - a highly unusual action. After Ashley was removed from her mother and placed in a foster home she felt safe enough to admit that her mother’s boyfriend had, in fact, been sexually abusing her. Thanks to Susan’s perseverance and in depth investigation, Ashley is in a safe and nurturing foster home today.

Events: The Champions for Children Dinner & Celebration Offers Reflection for Supporters and Hope for Children

On May 1st, over 400 Children’s Law Center supporters were treated to an evening of reflection and inspiration at the Seawell Grand Ballroom as the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center held the 2008 Champions for Children Annual Dinner & Celebration. Guests enjoyed live music by local pianist Alex Grant during the cocktail hour. Keynote speaker, Dr. Bertice Berry, spoke of her own triumph over poverty while delighting everyone with her witty reflections about life and philanthropy. Honoree Governor Bill Ritter gave a rousing acceptance speech as he was honored for his significant achievements and leadership in the fight to protect children.

As part of the evening, The Children’s Law Center also honored Honorary Chair Diane Leede for her significant support in improving and expanding the Children’s Law Center’s therapeutic programs. Founder and Executive Director Shari Shink shared stories of recent victories and former child client JC Coble shared his own personal success story. In the end, the evening raised $215,000 for The children served by The Children’s Law Center.

Special thanks to all who made the evening a huge success and especially to our top sponsors:

Super Heroes: John & Diane Leede
Hero: Colleen Abdoulah
Champions: CSG Systems Inc., Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Faegre & Benson, LLP, Chuck & Wendy Fish, Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Holland & Hart LLP, Shelley & Steve Reed, Richard Turner & Britta Erickson
Crusaders: Eye Candy Graphics, Rich & Jill Farquhar, Jacobs Chase Frick/ Kleinkopf & Kelley, Jane Michaels, Esq., Joe & Ellen Ruble & Family

Governor Bill Ritter accepting his "Superman Award" from
Founder & Executive Director, Shari Shink

The PET – P.A.L program is a part of PAWSitive Connections, a collaboration of local nonprofits working together to quantify the impact of animal assisted therapy. PET – P.A.L completed its first 12-week shelter program, providing seven foster children the opportunity to work individually with an abused dog.

The children met once a week to teach their dogs obedience skills and tricks while they themselves learned patience, tolerance, empathy and anger management. For several of the children, this program was the only consistent part of their lives for these 12-weeks. The program concluded with a graduation on May 22nd where each child had the opportunity to demonstrate what they had taught their dogs and share what they learned. Michael, a PET P.A.L. graduate, said it best, “I learned that you can do anything you want to do, even something you were scared to do and didn’t think you could do.” The graduation gave the children the chance to say good-bye to their dogs in a positive way and in the end many of the children and foster parents reported only positive benefits from the program.

We would like to congratulate all of the children for their wonderful achievements and thank Freedom Service Dogs, the volunteers, and the dogs’ foster families who donated shelter and supplies during this program. Everyone helped to make this program a huge success.

Contact Allison Levy, PET – P.A.L Program Director, for more information, at 303-302-9919 or alevy@law.du.edu.

Graduate Michael and his PET P.A.L. dog Brady

Volunteer Attorney Spotlight

Our volunteer attorneys donate in excess of $500,000 in legal services every year to help our child clients in the following ways:

Crisis Calls - Parents, caregivers and even children call The Children’s Law Center every day seeking urgent legal assistance concerning the well-being of a child. Because we do not have the resources to assist most of the crisis calls we receive we only handle the most egregious. This quarter we would like to thank the pro bono attorneys who were able to take on several of these cases: Erin Hogan and Jen Good from Dorsey and Whitney and solo practitioners Lisa Horvath and Lindsay Waskey.

Domestic Violence Program – Volunteer Attorneys ensure the safety of child victims of domestic violence. We would like to thank Davis Graham and Stubbs for their long-term support and for hosting our second quarter volunteer training. We are grateful to Davis Graham and Stubbs for embracing the work that we do and being a pro bono partner for 10 years!

Youth Advocacy Clinic – Volunteer Attorneys advise homeless and runaway youth, many of whom have fled abusive situations or aged out of foster care with nowhere else to go but the streets. Thanks to all of our volunteers, especially Klifton Klime, and everyone at Dorsey and Whitney who have donated their time at every clinic. In May we held our first BBQ in the park for homeless youth where we were able to reach out to over 50 young people. Given the wonderful success of the BBQ and seeing the great potential it has to influence the lives of hundreds of lost youth, we will host a BBQ in the park for homeless youth the first and third Thursday of every month. Please join us! For more information about locations and other youth advocacy clinics contact Melissa Parent at pmelissa@law.du.edu.

VOLUNTEER ALERT:

We are looking for a pro bono attorney to help the mother of one of our clients enforce a judgment for child support. This money is greatly needed as the mother has worked very hard to regain parental rights and improve their family’s life.
We are in need of a volunteer attorney to represent foster parents and help a foster child. The foster parents in this case believe very strongly that their home is the best place for their foster child at this time and need help fighting for this child’s right to stability.

We provide training, mentoring, and a Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center staff attorney as co-counsel, when necessary, to assist all of our volunteer attorneys. Please contact Melissa Parent at pmelissa@law.du.edu if you would like more information about helping in either of these cases or one of the other hundreds of crisis calls we receive each year.

The Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit United Way agency.
For more information or to make a contribution
visit RockyMountainChildrensLawCenter.org

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