Volunteer with the Clinic
The Clinic provides trainings (with CLE credits), supervision, and mentorship for lawyers who are interested in providing pro bono legal services to children and families. We have several volunteer options. If you are an attorney or law firm interested in providing pro bono assistance to aged out foster youth, please contact Clinic Director, Diane Sumoski, at dsumoski@smu.edu.
Aged Out Foster Youth
We are always looking for attorneys and law firms who wish to accept pro bono cases for aged out foster youth. You will be representing youth ages 18-25 who exited foster care and often do not have stable family and financial support. This is a very flexible opportunity as the youth have many different kinds of issues. For example, a youth may have a traffic ticket that requires you to go to court with her for two hours; a youth may have a name change or juvenile record sealing case that end up requiring a hearing; or a youth may have a custody case that spans several months. The cases you receive depends on the needs at the time and your interests, expertise, and availability. See our Aged Out Resources page for a list of possible legal issues.
If you are a law firm, we will conduct trainings for your lawyers on how to tackle Aged out Youth legal issues and also how to work with youth who have experienced trauma, abuse/neglect, and poverty. Training will also provide CLE credits (with some ethics credits). If you have any questions during your representation of a client, you can always reach out to the Clinic for assistance.
Kinship Program
We are always looking for attorneys who are willing to take a pro bono case in the kinship program. You will be representing a caregiver who wishes to have legal custody of children in his or her care. The Clinic regularly conducts trainings to lawyers who are interested in taking cases (trainings have CLE credits). The program is managed through a collaboration with the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, so you will also receive mentorship and malpractice insurance coverage through DVAP.
Once you are trained, you are welcome to attend an in-person intake clinic where you will help with intake and has the option of taking the clients’ cases. Otherwise, DVAP will put you on a mailing list that informs you of new cases needing attorneys, and you can accept as few and as many cases as you like. If you ever have any questions during your representation of a client, you can always reach out to the Clinic or DVAP for assistance.
Mentorship
If you are interested in mentoring an aged out youth, please reach out to Vanessa Gonzalez at vanessag@smu.edu.