The treatment of the children in two distinct areas of the law – child welfare and juvenile justice – is fraught with difficulty even under the best of circumstances. But with the onslaught of the COVID pandemic, the regular challenges and the need to protect children have only been compounded.

In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, juvenile justice scholar and Chief Reporter of the Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law, Elizabeth Scott guides our Children and the Law-exclusive panel through a series of discussions centering on child advocacy and juvenile law during a pandemic. The panel explores how the law defines parental authority, what rights a child has in custody, how lawyers can best represent a child in the system during a pandemic, and more.

Kristin Nicole Henning

Georgetown University Law Center

Kristin Nicole Henning is The Blume Professor of Law, Special Advisor to the Dean on Community and Justice, and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown University Law Center. She serves as an Adviser for The American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law.

Clare Huntington

Associate Reporter, Children and the Law

Clare Huntington is an expert in the fields of family law and poverty law. Her book, Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships (Oxford 2014), won an Honorable Mention for the Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE) Award in Law and Legal Studies from the Association of American Publishers. She has published widely in leading law journals, exploring the intersection of poverty and families and with a recent focus on non-marital families.

Marsha Levick

Juvenile Law Center

Marsha Levick, Chief Legal Officer, co-founded the Juvenile Law Center in 1975. Throughout her legal career, she has been an advocate for children’s and women's rights and is a nationally recognized expert in juvenile law. Marsha oversees Juvenile Law Center’s litigation and appellate docket. She has successfully litigated challenges to unlawful and harmful laws, policies and practices on behalf of children in both the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

Elizabeth S. Scott

Reporter, Children and the Law

Elizabeth S. Scott is the Harold R. Medina Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Scott teaches family law, property, criminal law, and children and the law. She has written extensively on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, child custody, adolescent decision-making, and juvenile delinquency. Her research is interdisciplinary, applying behavioral economics, social science research, and developmental theory to family/juvenile law and policy issues.

Jennifer Morinigo

The American Law Institute

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