2008 Woodie Awards
Law students' clinic helps abused youths
Holly K. Hacker ; The Dallas Morning News
Issue date: 4/27/05 Section: News
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas--In a cramped basement office at Southern Methodist University, legal books share shelf space with photos of babies and toddlers. A wall calendar tracks court dates, and a white board lists phone numbers for juvenile court and Child Protective Services. Students hover over laptops and thick manila folders.
Welcome to the child advocacy clinic at SMU's Dedman School of Law, where students represent some of the neediest children in Dallas County --those who have been removed from their families because of abuse or neglect. Over the semester, the clinic work takes students beyond the classroom and into hospitals, courtrooms, social worker offices and foster homes.
"One of the best things that someone can take from the clinic experience is just helping little children who aren't able to help themselves," said LaToyia Watkins, a third-year law student who took the clinic last semester and helps out this semester.
The advocacy clinic is a class that teaches students to be guardians and attorneys ad litem--people appointed by the court to represent the best interests of a child in court proceedings. The goal is to give children a voice that might otherwise go unheard and to place them in a permanent, stable home as soon as possible, clinic director Jessica Dixon said.
"When we have strong advocates for children, the cases tend to resolve more quickly and with better results for the children," Dixon said.
Since 2002, when the program started with a grant from the W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation, the clinic has trained more than 50 students, who in turn have represented more than 60 children.
In class, students learn how to cross-examine a witness and how trauma affects children. Outside class, the students spend time with the children they represent, their families, foster parents and others. They might talk to social workers, psychologists or detectives involved with the case. Understanding a child's situation helps the students make better decisions.