We Need Your Help!

CLC Needs Technology Support!

Since moving to remote work, most staff members are using personal cell phones and personal laptops to do their jobs, and continue to have challenges with our remote server, WIFI and essential resources for remote and hybrid work.

As a small non-profit we weren’t prepared for a swift transition to remote work, and remote work requires a significant financial investment. To provide the best possible services and advocacy to our clients, we need laptops, docking stations, software and more.

We can’t do this without your help! Please consider sponsoring a laptop, printer or another essential item. We are planning to raise $30,000 – the breakdown of costs is found here. 

Given the stress and secondary trauma of this work, it’s important for staff to have adequate technology so they can be wholly present for their clients without one more level of stress for our dedicated staff to face daily. 

Our legal team processes 100s of e-filings a day without printers or monitors, and virtual trials and hearings are challenging on a laptop.  Your support will help sustain our services and prevent staff burnout while remote work continues.

Our hope is to raise $30,000 toward this project to purchase laptops, monitors, docking stations, etc.

Making a gift at any level helps CLC focus our funds on training and supporting our 320 volunteers and providing the best possible outcomes for children ages 9-21.

Thank you!

Questions? Please contact, Amanda Finman-Palmer, Development Director.

Spring 2021 COVID Updates for Youth in Foster Care

Our clients face many barriers to housing and stability, and are most vulnerable to the impacts of the pandemic, unemployment and America’s reckoning with race. CLC is working closely with the courts to address the needs of our clients during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that services are not disrupted. 

18-21 Extended Foster Care Program Update: 

The U.S. Congress recently made adjustments to help foster youth in extended foster care during the pandemic. Specific changes include the following:

• During this pandemic, a state receiving federal funding for extended foster care programing may not terminate services to youth because of the youth’s age, lack of employment or failure to attend school from 4/1/20-9/30/21.
• States must allow youth to re-enter foster care if they aged out of foster care during the pandemic.

More information is found here. 

General Client Updates:

•  In recent conversations with new clients, many of them have said that they are excited to get to in person learning.   Some have already returned to school and others are returning soon. They say “online learning was fine but I missed being with my friends”.
• Although we are currently not doing in person client meetings, we have been able to resume getting client bags to our new clients. This provides a way for us to have some additional connection with our clients and with the pandemic having their own toiletries and other comfort items can be helpful.
• CLC is seeing cases reenter child protection now that schools are reopening.

Congratulations Debra Kovats for 20 Years of Military Service!

CLC Staff Attorney Celebrates Retirement from the U.S. Army

Debra Kovats began her legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in both the First and Tenth Judicial Districts, leaving to serve on Active Duty in the Army after 9/11. After returning to MN, Debra worked at the Minnesota Innocence Project litigating wrongful DNA convictions before joining the staff at Children’s Law Center of MN in 2015.

Debra nominated Children’s Law Center for recognition from the military, to highlight the support, flexibility and accommodation CLC had provided over the past five years when she needed to attend to her military obligations. In November 2020, Children’s Law Center of Minnesota received this commendation for being a Patriot Employer for contributing to national security and protecting liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve force.

AFP: When did you join the military? What motivated you to join?

DK: I joined the military in 2000.  As a law student and later new attorney, I encountered a few attorneys who had served in the JAGC. With their insight and encouragement, I decided to apply.

AFP: What is your title? Can you explain what you do in JAG Corps and describe the commitment?

DK: My rank is Lieutenant Colonel.  I have held various duty positions over the years, but primarily my positions have been geared toward Trial Defense Services (TDS).  Much like public defenders, I was the appointed counsel for Soldiers who were in trouble. My duty positions never really fit neatly into the one weekend a month, two weeks a year that is common for Soldiers serving in the Guard or Reserves.  At any given time, I would always have clients and cases that I was actually working on in the evenings and weekends each month.  Additionally, I was required to meet the Army’s annual training requirements which consists of both legal and non-legal training ranging from physical fitness, ethics training to weapons qualifications.

AFP: How does your service influence your work as a public interest attorney and vice versa?

DK: I believe that my service in the military and my service at CLC go hand in hand.  At the base of it all, it is about helping people.  I became an attorney because I wanted to help people and while that has taken different shapes over the years, my focus and primary motivation for practicing law is to help people.

AFP:  What will you miss most about your service? What are you looking forward to about having more time at home?

DK:  I will miss the camaraderie of serving with my fellow Soldiers.  In the Reserves, I met really interesting people who have done just amazing things both in the military and in their civilian jobs.

As I complete my military service, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family, reading books instead of trial transcripts in my free-time and making the most of enjoying watching my kids grow up.

AFP: What was it like balancing CLC and JAG corps?

DK: I was extraordinarily lucky!  CLC has always been incredibly supportive of my military duty.  As anyone in the Reserves knows, sometimes orders change at the last minute.  That can be frustrating for everyone, but CLC was understanding and accommodating with last minute changes. I am so thankful to be able to work at CLC and look forward to many more years of representing our youth.

Upcoming Metro Area CLE Trainings

Be an advocate for abused and neglected children. Train to be a CLC volunteer attorney. This half-day training earns attorneys 3.75 CLE credits and is the perfect fit for anyone’s busy schedule. This is a training for new and current volunteer attorneys, judges, county attorneys, public defenders, social workers and other child advocates. Click on Read More below to see the dates for upcoming CLE trainings.