In today’s world, millions of children are the subjects of judicial proceedings each year. They are involved in the court system as victims of abuse and neglect in dependency court; as accused of criminal activity or status offenses in delinquency court; as subjects of custody, visitation and adoption proceedings in family court; as refugees, unaccompanied minors, and undocumented children in immigration proceedings; and as participants in civil damages litigation. Our goal is to improve the lives of children and families by ensuring that these proceedings produce justice.

The adversarial system works best when all interested parties are competently represented. The National Association of Counsel for Children strives to make certain the attorneys representing children and families are well trained and effective. We dedicate ourselves to providing child law advocates with the tools necessary to empower their clients through effective representation.

We also believe that child welfare is best achieved in the legal system by advocates who engage in both case law and policy advocacy. Child welfare advocates must not only represent their clients well each day, but also work to improve the child welfare, juvenile justice, and private custody systems. To that end, we offer a variety of tools and services to empower both experienced attorneys and first-time lay advocates.