Family law expert pioneers program in child advocacy

Serving the Underserved

Family law expert pioneers program in child advocacy

Published On Monday, April 16, 2007  1:52 AM
By KEVIN ZHOU
Crimson Staff Writer

ARTICLE TOOLS:
E-mail this Article
Share on Facebook
Printer Friendly Version
Write a Letter to the Editor

More than 20 years ago, when she was still a lecturer in law on the
campus north of Harvard Yard, Elizabeth Bartholet left the confines of
Cambridge for the muggy warmth of Lima, Peru.

It was the fall of 1985, and she wanted to adopt a child. With little
more than 40 $100 bills tucked into the bottom of her shoes, she
boarded the airplane.

But after she landed, Bartholet discovered over her three-month stay
that many laws designed to help children were actually hurting them.

Today, her first adopted son, Christopher, is 21 years old. But the
laws handicapping the adoption process in Peru remain in place.

That’s why Bartholet, who is now the Wasserstein public interest
professor of law, created the Harvard Law School Child Advocacy
Program (CAP), tailored to draw students to less glamorous—or
lucrative—legal niches.

Though only three years old, the program has already established
courses in the new field and persuaded some up-and-comers to follow in
Bartholet’s steps.

“A lot of students come to law school full of ideals, but most
students wake up in a few months thinking that ‘my only choice’ is to
work at a commercial law firm,” Bartholet says. “I think that’s a
waste of talent.”

BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS

Adopting Christopher was an eye-opener for Bartholet. She recalls that
the system in place for international adoption was incredibly
bureaucratic, each step shrouded in layers of difficulty. Bartholet
was forced to wait in Peru for over three months before she could
finally take her child home.

Two and a half years later, after returning from Peru, Bartholet
headed back to adopt her second child, Michael. Though two decades
have passed since she first endured the frustration of waiting to
adopt her children, the memories remain her mind as fresh as ever.

“I had a lot of time to think that 99-plus percent of the people who
wanted to make similar adoptions couldn’t because of the way that the
law was structured,” Bartholet says. “It opened my eyes to a world of
child needs that I had completely been unaware of.”

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

While Bartholet is devoting the rest of her life to fight for
children’s rights— publishing numerous books and scholarly articles
over the years focusing on issues such as child abuse and neglect—she
is considered to be one of the few who took the road less traveled.

When most students enter law school, the child advocacy field
typically draws very little interest. Lacking the allure and pay of
jobs at major corporations or law firms, the field loses some of the
brightest minds.

According to Rhoda E. Schneider, general counsel of the Massachusetts
Department of Education, law schools perpetuate this cycle by placing
a heavy emphasis on corporate law positions. And even for students
interested in the public sector, there is a tendency to turn to
higher-level government positions.

“In a place like Harvard Law School, it is very common for people who
really care about issues affecting children and families to feel like
they are swimming against the tide,” Schneider says.

Bartholet adds that limited opportunities preclude students from
developing the skills needed to become effective child advocates.

“In general, top-tier law schools are sending students to work for the
richest and most prestigious members of society,” she says.

“There is no systematic training to teach students to go out and
correct injustice.”

Judith S. Kaye, chief judge of New York, agrees. With many law
students from schools like Harvard overlooking careers in child
advocacy for positions in Washington or on Wall Street, children will
remain one of the most underserved groups in the United States, she
says.

“For so long, we’ve sidelined children’s issues,” Kaye says. “Too many
lives are being lost, and as lawyers, we can all begin working
together.”

KEEPING IDEALSIM ALIVE

Three years ago, Bartholet set out to capture this idealism.

With the help of HLS, Bartholet founded the CAP, the first
multi-faceted program in the nation to train students in the field.

Based in Pound Hall, CAP offers a policy workshop that brings leading
child welfare advocates into the classroom, an academic course to
educate students on the legal issues relating to children, and a
clinical course where students gain first-hand experience in the
field.

Recently it hosted a film series on the lives of children and
teenagers growing up in prison.

Though other top-tier law schools, including those at Yale University
and the University of Michigan, boast well-respected child advocacy
clinics, they lack the depth that Harvard’s program provides,
Bartholet says.

Nicholas W. Rose, a third-year law student, took a course arranged by CAP.

“Given all these resources and tools, this is an area where not enough
people go into,” he says. “I think there were a lot of people who’d be
willing, but there wasn’t a vehicle at the school to do that.”

Not only does the program provide courses that bring child advocacy
experts into the classroom, but it also sends students to gain
first-hand experience.

“It’s made it more real,” says third-year law student Elisa Poncz, who
worked in a Philadelphia juvenile law center through CAP. “You can see
what real-life child advocates are doing.”

Though CAP has not completely convinced all of its participants to
pursue a career in child advocacy, it has nonetheless exposed many
students to a new field of law.

Carlos A.L. Aqui, a second-year law student who took CAP’s clinical
course, worked in the Philippines with young women forced to labor as
domestic workers.

Though Aqui says he isn’t ready to commit his career to this area, the
program exposed him to an area that he predicts will impassion him
even after graduation.

Bartholet sees Aqui’s newfound sentiments toward child advocacy as a
testament to the CAP’s accomplishments.

“It’s a program that can inspire,” she says, “but also can keep
idealism alive.”

—Staff writer Kevin Zhou can be reached at kzhou@fas.harvard.edu.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518279