Center Collaborates with Tennessee Youth Advisory Council and Vanderbilt Legal Clinic on Law Related Education Project

 

Youth from the Tennessee Youth Advisory Council working with Kim Crane and Andy Shookhoff and a group of Vanderbilt Law School students working with Law School Professor Susan Brooks are collaborating on the development of training programs and written materials designed to help empower foster youth to be more effective advocates for themselves individually and for system improvement. The training and materials are intended for older youth and for adults working with them, including foster parents.

Two workshops developed through this collaboration, Everything You Wanted to Know About Guardians Ad Litem But Were Afraid to Ask and Uncovering the Secrets of the Child and Family Team Meeting, each attracted more than 80 teens and foster parents at an April 1 regional foster parent training conference. The workshops were led by present and former foster youth, with the law students helping facilitate small group discussions, and Brooks and Shookhoff providing comments.