The Alabama Department of Child Abuse Prevention (DCAP) -- The Children's Trust Fund (CTF) has a more than 25 year history as the only state agency explicitly focused on educating our communities about child abuse and neglect and providing prevention programs. DCAP is focused on supporting family-strengthening community programs andinvesting upfront in efforts to enhance the chance that children in our state grow up in a nurturing and supportive home. A 2007 study by the Universityof Alabama revealed that child abuse and neglect costs taxpayers $520,800,290 every year.In Project Year 2007-…
Each chapter of this book is written by an expert in the field and gives you the tools to successfully incorporate fathers into child welfare cases. Chapter 1: Vivek Sankaran writes about Supreme Court precedent on this issue and how different states have interpreted it, while providing tips to lawyers on preserving fathers' rights. Chapter 2: Mark Kiselica explores how to establish a good working relationship with father clients and how to make men feel comfortable engaging in the child welfare system. Chapter 3: Richard Cozzola and Andrya Soprych detail how to advocate for father clients…
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for recognizing male help-seeking behaviors. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: recognize the life circumstances of father clients, perform outreach, and remove barriers to meetings; explain the father advocate role in the child welfare system; use the strengths of traditional masculinity while addressing self-defeating beliefs about getting help; address any negative biases about fathers; and learn and practice male-friendly rapport-building tactics.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for advocating for the constitutional rights of nonresident fathers. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: determine if a client has a constitutionally protected interest in his child, file necessary pleadings to safeguard a client's constitutional rights, and understand the interplay between State law and constitutional rights.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for ensuring quality out-of-court advocacy for nonresident fathers. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: develop a good working attorney-client relationship with a father client, establish an open line of communication with the caseworker, and participate and prepare for child welfare staffing.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for representing nonresident fathers in dependency cases. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: fight for custody if the client wishes, ensure successful father-child visits, prove the father's fitness to parent at trial, and help fathers who do not want custody achieve their other goals.
This checklist explains strategies judges can use to engage fathers in the child protection process. The strategies include: identify and locate all possible fathers early, complete paternity testing as soon as possible, appoint counsel for the father, engage fathers in the child protection case, involve paternal relatives in the case, and address domestic violence issues.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for addressing special advocacy issues. Strategies for advocates are explained for addressing substance abuse, mental health concerns, domestic violence allegations, and immigration concerns.
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides legal strategies for addressing child support obligations. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: request that the court or agency not refer the child to child support enforcement services when reunification may be a goal, argue that agency case plans cannot be derailed by imposing child support recovery mechanisms, combat any attempts by the State to terminate a father's rights based on his failure to pay child support, and identify other legal strategies to oppose collecting…
Designed to assist advocates for nonresident fathers in child welfare cases, this checklist provides tips for representing incarcerated nonresident fathers in child welfare cases. Strategies for advocates are explained and include: know the Adoption and Safe Families Act's timeframes and how they may impact a client; learn laws regarding the father's rights to participate in hearings and visitation, and incarcerations as a basis to terminate parental rights; guide the father through the process by regular in-person and written communication; work with the child welfare agency to involve the…
