Jamie Becker-Finn ’11 grew up on the Leech Lake reservation, an impoverished community in northern Minnesota where she has seen first-hand what poverty, discrimination, and an inequitable justice system can do to families and children.
And when those families can’t afford legal representation to argue on their behalf, things get even more complicated. In some cases, parents lose parental rights of their children permanently.
For Becker-Finn, a Minnesota state representative, it was a no-brainer to look for ways the legislature could work to give those parents a fair chance. And she found a partner in that work in the Institute to Transform Child Protection at Mitchell Hamline.
Becker-Finn, who also chairs the Judiciary Finance and Civil Law committee in the Minnesota House, sponsored legislation this spring that expands legal representation for parents of children going through child welfare cases. Two years ago, lawmakers mandated attorneys be appointed in child welfare cases for parents who can’t afford them. This year, they extended that mandate to cases that are appealed. The Institute to Transform Child Protection worked on both bills.
Joanna Woolman, the institute’s director, said this year’s extension was especially necessary because there’s a dearth of attorneys in Minnesota who have the needed experience to try child welfare cases at the appellate level. Given that, the new law also creates a state agency that will provide training and create a repository of...
The Ondo State Police Command has debunked a rumour currently circulating within the Akure metropolis alleging the imposition of a traditional curfew. The command categorically stated that no such...