By: Erin Kay, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) During the Fall semester of the Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) Student Fellows Program I, an experiential course at the University of Baltimore School of Law, we were introduced to Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecology of human development paradigm. This theoretical model gives us a framework…
By Erin Kay, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) In the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) Truancy Court Program (TCP), we cater to students from all over Baltimore City in a wide range of grade levels. Every school has a group of students who the school administrators believe can benefit…
By Hadassah Bauerle, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) With the threat of COVID-19 spreading globally, governors across the United States have strongly encouraged citizens to stay home and stay safe. Some states have even issued “shelter in place” orders, by which people are not permitted to leave their homes except for rare “essential” functions. For many…
It has become a commonly known concept that our brains do not completely develop until we are in our early to mid-twenties. Every state has a law recognizing that children below a certain age cannot consent to sex. Most states prevent minors from marrying, at least without parental permission. Education is compulsory until at least…
By Shannon Thomas, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) It has become a commonly known concept that our brains do not completely develop until we are in our early to mid-twenties. Every state has a law recognizing that children below a certain age cannot consent to sex. Most states prevent minors from marrying, at least without parental…
By: Kayla Williams, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) The Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts (CFCC) Truancy Court Program (TCP) aims to provide early intervention for chronically absent students in an effort to prevent their truant behavior from leading to delinquent and criminal behavior. The TCP works to identify and address…
By Christina van Vonno, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) Since 2017, more than 70,200 Americans died from a drug overdose, and more than two-thirds of these deaths involved opioids. Most people, when seeing these statistics, do not stop and realize that these individuals were fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters, leaving behind loved ones who have to…
By Jalen Sanders, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) Participating in the CFCC Student Fellows program, I have learned and acknowledged a lot. There is no difference between a student, a faculty member, a lawyer, a judge, or an advocate. No pay grade, word of mouth, or potential job offer can change that. What destroys our titles…
By Megan Phillips, CFCC Student Fellow (2019-2020) One of the central messages of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts is that of therapeutic jurisprudence. This concept means, among other things, that the legal system (e.g., courts, attorneys, and judges) should take a holistic view of the legal process in…