Parental Defense Alliance of Utah

Monday, April 14, 2014

Spotlight: Eric K. Johnson

Your name: Eric K. Johnson

Where you practice: Statewide

Whether you have a county contract or not: no county contract

Something you love about being a parental defender: keeping the state honest

A case where you were able to successfully advocate a good outcome for a client: One of my favorite experiences was exposing a GAL for claiming to have spoken with a minor child client and made recommendations based upon the purported discussion, when in fact the GAL had never spoken to the child.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Children's Justice Symposium/UPC Domestic Violence Conference

On May 13-15, 2014, the Utah Children's Justice Center and Utah Prosecution Council are holding a conference on abuse and domestic violence.

The Children's Justice Symposium / UPC Domestic Violence Conference is a cooperative effort by the Utah Children's Justice Center Program and the Utah Prosecution Council to provide a venue for professionals from law enforcement, the legal community, child and family protective services, Children's Justice Centers, state and local government agencies, medical and mental health professionals, community groups, educational organizations, advisory boards and committees and non-profit and fund-raising associations to gather, learn about, and discuss topics, issues and concerns related to their work.

The cost of the conference is $90 until April 18, 2014 and $105 thereafter. You can register and find more information HERE.

Spotlight Contest: Get $20 Off Online CLE

We are so pleased to announce the winner of our spotlight contest: Joyce Smith. Congratulations Joyce! We hope you enjoy your new iPad mini. You can view Joyce's spotlight submission HERE.

We will be posting the rest of the entries each week which will allow all of us to get to know the parental defenders around the state.

You can still send us your profile. As an incentive, we will give you a discount code worth $20 off the Structured Decision Making training that is now available online.

To send a profile use your phone (or other recording device) to create a video profile of yourself OR create the profile in writing and include a photo.

Each profile should include:

1. Your name,
2. Where you practice,
3. Whether you have a county contract or not, and
4. At least two of the following:
a. Something you love about being a parental defender,
b. a case where you were able to successfully advocate a good outcome for a client, or
c. A tip or trick in practicing parental defense law that could benefit others.

Email your submission to Kate Hansen at kate@parentaldefense.org. [Note: If your file is too big to email, let Kate know and she can make other arrangements for the submission such as a google doc or dropbox folder.]

Friday, April 11, 2014

The Online Structured Decision Making Training Is Finally Ready

Last fall the DCFS trained some of our attorneys on the new structured decision making process that is being used statewide to make safety and risk assessments by DCFS caseworkers.

The PDA feels that this is an important training for all parental defense attorneys and provides vital information that can help you better advocate for your clients.

To that end we have made the training available online. The cost of the training is $35.00 and includes 3 hours of self-study CLE for the state of Utah. Click below to register.

DISCOUNT CODE: For those of you who attended the annual conference you can use the code "annualconf" and get $10.00 off!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Utah Resource for Clients with Disabilities

Back in February we posted some information on how to help clients with disabilities. Brent Hall, one of the parental defenders for Salt Lake County, has been in touch with the Disability Law Center and has some suggestions on how to use this local resource to help clients:

The Disability Law Center recently reached out to me. They wanted to inform parental defenders how they might be able to help our clients. There are three main ways they can help.

1) Incarcerated client with mental health issues. The DLC has access to clients in jails and prisons. If your client is reporting that they can’t access their mental health medications or treatment then the DLC might be able to help.

2) Problems with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). If a school district isn’t following a child’s IEP the DLC may be able to help with enforcement.

3) Housing and employment discrimination. If your client is reporting problems with housing and employment due to a disability (including mental health), then the DLC might be able to help.

There might be other creative ways we can utilize their help. If you think you have an issue they can help with contact Camille Coon at ccoon@disabilitylawcenter.org.

Brent Hall