By Kayla Faria, CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 Founded on a bedrock of therapeutic jurisprudence, some truancy courts are aimed to solve problems and address truant behavior, but – like so much of our justice system – this underlying theoretical foundation crumbles without practical vigilance. These courts can facilitate a transformative space that transcends the school-to-prison pipeline…
By Amanda Odorimah, CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 At the beginning of this semester, I enrolled in the CFCC Student Fellows Program hoping to have an opportunity to help children and families involved with the court system. Having spent the past few years working in the classroom, I saw students who fell victim to problems such…
By Charisse Lue, CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 It is now over 17 years since Maryland Rule 16-204 established the Maryland Family Division.[1] Rule 16-204 not only gave the Family Division subject–matter jurisdiction over issues like divorce, adoption, custody, and child protection, but it was also an acknowledgment by the court system that Maryland families needed more…
By William Clayton Donley III, CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 As a student in the Center for Families, Children and the Courts Student Fellows Program, I have had the opportunity to conduct research on the types of programs available for those in need of mental health care and substance abuse treatment. The research was tailored towards…
By Ashley Bond, CFCC Student Fellow 2015-2016 “Once you get out of law school, you’ll realize that you never learned a thing about how to be a lawyer. You just learned the law.” My supervising attorney stated this during my first legal internship. At the time, I knew that he was referring to such topics…
Seventeen and a half years ago, Rule 16-204 created five Family Divisions in Maryland – and put the state on a path of family justice system reform that continues to the present day. On June 1, 2015 the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts…
By Eliseba Osore, Truancy Court Program Social Worker and Katie Davis, Truancy Court Program Attorney The events of the past few weeks in Baltimore have shined a spotlight on the struggles of many Baltimore residents. While some were surprised by the revelations following Freddie Gray’s death, those of us who work with youth in the Baltimore…
By: Katie Davis, TCP Attorney CFCC’s Truancy Court Program (TCP) has encountered unprecedented numbers of families in Baltimore City who are struggling with unstable housing and homelessness. While there are many challenges for those dealing with homelessness, most families do not realize that they are eligible for certain public benefits, including federally-mandated services for their…
By Maria Iliadis, CFCC Student Fellow 2014-2015 On September 17, 2014, the Center for Families, Children and the Courts (“CFCC”) Student Fellows visited the Family Division of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City located at 111 North Calvert Street in Baltimore. We received a tour from T. Sue German, the Family Division Administrator. The tour…