Externship/Internship Opportunities
Back to Volunteer
The Alliance for Children’s Rights’ mission is to protect the rights of abused, neglected or impoverished children in Los Angeles - in hopes of creating a world in which all children have a safe, permanent family and get the support and services to which they are entitled.
Overview:
Alliance efforts are focused in three areas: direct legal services and representation, education and community training, and advocacy. The Alliance provides legal services and advice in the areas of foster care and foster children’s adoptions, probate guardianships, special education, emancipation, public benefits, and denial of medical treatment. Clients range from runaway youth, relative caregivers, children with disabilities, and parents with terminal illnesses. The Alliance staff includes lawyers, social workers, paralegals and advocates supplemented by over a thousand pro bono attorneys and volunteers who donate their time to help disadvantaged children and ensure their voices are heard.
Community Volunteers:
The Alliance is always looking for volunteers from the community to assist with advocacy, client intake, referrals, case management and administrative projects. We request volunteers commit to a minimum of eight hours per week, for at least three months. Computer skills are required; bilingual Spanish speakers are given preference. Scheduling is flexible within office hours.
Interns/Externs:
Law students work under the direction of a staff attorney on an assigned project area, and have an opportunity to:
- analyze and assess individual clients’ needs,
- review each case with a staff attorney to determine what assistance is needed,
- prepare a probate guardianship matter,
- attend court proceedings,
- attend meetings relating to children’s issues,
- tour facilities for children, such as the Children’s Court, and
- assist in the development of additional resource/informational materials for clients.
Deadlines:
All internship/externship positions are non-paid. Fall and Spring may be part-time. Summer positions are full-time and competitive, and are reserved for law students. Please send resume and cover letter to:
Kathy Hersh, Esq.
Pro Bono Coordinator
k.hersh@kids-alliance.org
213.368.6010
Children’s Court Project
The CCP program helps children who have been abused and by their parents, and then mistreated again by overburdened systems. The Alliance provides legal and technical assistance to help these children obtain the services to which they are entitled in the Dependency, Delinquency and Juvenile Traffic court systems. Additionally, our office in the Children’s Court allows us to help children, foster care providers, and families to understand the court process and resolve difficult legal issues.
Guardianship Project
The Guardianship Project works in cooperation with schools, public housing projects, neighborhood churches, and Head Start programs, the clinics offer on-the-spot legal advice and social service referrals to children, families, and caretakers in their own communities. The clinic’s purpose is to help children and parents access services before families fall apart and children are placed in foster care. Through the monthly in-house Guardianship Clinic, GP assists caretakers in completing paperwork that will give the caretakers authority to make decisions for the child. GP also places probate guardianship cases with pro bono attorneys
Foster Children’s Adoption Project
AP completes more than one-third of all foster care adoptions in Los Angeles County by cutting through bureaucracy and red tape to speed the process for children waiting to be part of a new family. Cases are done in-house and placed with pro bono attorneys. Adoption Saturday, a national model for promoting foster care adoption, is held three times throughout the year.
Health Care Project
It is estimated that nearly half a million children in Los Angeles County do not have a regular health care provider. HCP helps overcome legal barriers such as service denials so children can access critically needed medical treatment. HCP staff consists of social workers, health advocates, and attorneys who work with local hospitals and WIC centers to help families get quality medical services.
Special Education Project
The Special Education Project assists disabled and learning impaired children in receiving the appropriate special education services they are entitled to by law. Special Ed also offers training sessions to empower parents and caregivers to obtain services for their children through access to information regarding children’s legal rights and opportunities. This project provides representation to foster youth at Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings, mediations and due process hearings.
Intake
Intake is conducted primarily by phone, and is the first contact potential clients have with the Alliance. Callers may have a crisis situation, which requires a legal service or advocacy for a social service. The calls come from a variety of sources, including parents, foster parents, social workers, Dependency Court attorneys for minors, or caregivers. The intake process is structured so that intake workers can gather the essential information and present it for review by staff attorneys at a daily Case Review session. The staff attorneys will give counsel or referrals on a case-by-case basis.
