Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic - The Student Experience

The impact of this unique and important educational experience is documented in journals maintained by the students. The following excerpts convey the potency of this interdisciplinary experience from the perspective of law, medical, and social work students.
Here are several student comments and journals:

Medical Student Shirley D. Viteri, M’06:

One of the main reasons I was attracted to the medical profession was the team-centered approach to patient care. I was able to experience just that on many of my rotations in the hospital, solidifying my desire to pursue medicine. Now as I near the end of my medical school education, I have had a very truly rewarding experience working in team with law and social work students in this course – further bolstering my resolve to act in the capacity of a child advocate.

The most rewarding aspect of the course from my perspective was being able to use the medical knowledge I had gained to aid children outside of a clinic setting. In theory, I had always known I could eventually apply my knowledge to other fields. Now that I have had the chance to do so, I feel I am better prepared for my future profession as a pediatrician.

In addition to this intellectual wisdom, I have also gained a sense of pride in my contemporaries, knowing that my great passion for working with children is shared by those in other professions. Their work in this course has been a result of true dedication to their clients, and I am inspired by their efforts.

Social Policy & Practice Student Celina Bedard, SP2‘06:

Reflecting on this semester’s experience as a part of the Child Advocacy Clinic, there is one lesson I have learned that stands out in importance and meaningfulness. The role of the child advocacy team and each of its disciplines is to ensure that children in the child welfare system are not forgotten by society and the system itself. Advocating for their best interests in safety, academics, physical and mental health, and overall well-being is our mission, and as I have learned over and over, it is a critical one.

Thinking of all the differences our clinic teams have been able to make this semester in our clients’ lives is extraordinary. Through working on child advocacy teams with the law and medical students, I have learned how personal and unique this work can be. It is truly heart-warming and hope-bringing to see the amount of time, energy, and emotion that each person put into each case. I have really enjoyed the interdisciplinary collaboration on our cases as well as just hanging around my team members, including my supervisors. I am very excited to have met many new people outside the social work world, who are so passionate and committed to working for children.

Law Student Leigh McMullan, L’06:

The clinic was undoubtedly my most difficult and most rewarding experience in law school. It was completely different than any other class. The clinic was collaborative where other classes promote individual competition. The child advocacy work also placed a premium on emotional intelligence that would be inappropriate in other coursework. These differences with the rest of my law school experience made the clinic an invaluable experience for me as a person and as an attorney.

In most classes, working together is either forbidden or it is just not done because students are competing with one another for a top spot in the curve. In the clinic, however, I learned how important it really is to rely on and work with other people. All of our clients had problems that one lawyer, no matter how gifted, could never solve alone. It took working with professionals in other fields and with each other in order to become helpful. I don’t think I could have handled either of my cases in any sort of successful way without the case rounds classes. Not only did they often provide practical advice (i.e. who to call at DHS about insurance) but it also created a network of support that I really relied on. I often saw members of the clinic in the halls at school or on the street and they would stop and say “how is the interstate compact going? Did you reach the woman in Harrisburg?” or ask about some other detail of my cases. I think we all felt really emotionally involved with each other and with each other’s cases. I was always amazed about the little details I remembered about other people’s cases and the details they remembered about mine. I think we were all able to have such good memories for each other because we cared so much.

The clinic was also really emotional for me because I think it exposed me to a side of life I just had not experienced first hand before and that was hard to see. I think dealing with other people’s pain and suffering can also really evoke emotions you have about your own life—that certainly did happen to me. But I also think that having emotional reactions to the events in my cases made me better able to be an advocate. While it is certainly important to be professional, I think that having the emotions was a real catalyst for working hard on my cases. If I was not feeling so sad or so angry or so distraught, I am not sure I could have churned out four-page emails three times a week. I think a lot of the work I did as made better by the emotions I was having and that it is when you are unable to have emotional responses that you feel burnt out.

I know that I will think about [one case] for the rest of my life and wonder about how they are doing. Being in the clinic was the first time I really felt like a lawyer in any real sense. I don’t think that it had to do with the legal work that I was doing as much as the sense that I was helping someone who had placed a great deal of trust in me. I hope that I always strive to feel like this about my work. If I can do that, I know that I will feel both exhausted and excited at the same time—exactly like a lawyer should feel.

Law Student Katie Calabrese, L’06:

It is safe to say that this semester in the Clinic I have learned more substantive and practical information than I have in any other class that I have taken at the Law School. The experience has taught me an unquantifiable number of discrete legal lessons—how to prepare a line of direct questioning, how to file a motion, how the Rules of Professional Conduct apply in real life, how to plan a case, etc. The list goes on and on. The experience has also taught me life lessons and has provided me with skills that apply both in the legal world and the “outside” world—the importance of knowing your audience as part of being an effective communicator, the value of persistence, and that (pardon the cliché) you can always catch more bees with honey.

The most valuable lesson I learned in the Clinic this semester, however, is that I am hooked on this work. Prior to working in the Clinic, when I was exposed to individuals who worked in or around the child welfare system (as lawyers, social workers, or in a policy role), I was always left with the feeling that it was just “too hard” for me to make any sort of real commitment to working with children in the system—too hard emotionally, too hard mentally, just too hard. I first came to this conclusion while working at CASA [Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse].
This semester was my first experience providing services to children in the system where I was given a large amount of responsibility and where my activities were mostly self-directed. And, as expected, the work was difficult. It was intellectually challenging and emotionally taxing at the same time. Yet I discovered that despite all of the negatives—the self-doubt, the high stakes, and the disappointments, I loved it. So I guess my feeling now is that while working with (or in) the child welfare system is hard, it’s not “too hard”—at least not for me.

I have worked on pro bono projects in several areas since being a law student and nothing has (and I expect nothing will) inspired me like the work I have done for the Clinic. Next year, when I enter the private sector, I can’t imagine devoting my time to any other kind of pro bono work. The Clinic is one of the reasons I chose to come to Penn over other law schools. Now that I have participated in it, it has fulfilled (and in some cases surpassed) all of my expectations.

Thoughts from Law Student Rodger Pichardo, L’07:

Final Journal
April 24, 2006
This semester was about transition. I moved from one entity to the next- being in law school and actually practicing has been a journey. In my last journal entry, I could not limit myself to simply reflecting on one thing. As a result, the following is a collection of the most vivid occurrences that contributed to this semester’s work and my transition.

Time: January
Place: PLAO [Penn Legal Assistance Office]
Event: Sitting at the computer and feeling incompetent. I’m overwhelmed. I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. I’m quickly falling behind in my other classes. I’m a novice advocate who is slowly learning the ropes of the child welfare system. I can read the statutes, but the real-life application is another story or some other book at that. My first trip to Family Court was eye-opening. The children were under the microscope of all the adults in the room who believed they knew what was in the best interests of the child. The kids sat quietly and barely said a word. I realized that my role was to be their voice. I also reminded myself that I enrolled in the clinic to address one of the main reasons I attended law school: to help people.

Time: February
Place: Family Court
Event: Judge C demands that we all leave the courtroom and negotiate the life of TC... This is serious. I’m not in class where law students have the luxury of speaking their minds and giving their opinions and not worrying about the real-life ramifications that will occur a few minutes after speaking. TC is a young woman who has a very good idea of where she wants her life to go; well, at least she knows she DOES NOT want to go to a shelter tonight. I successfully negotiate a deal that at least keeps the status quo in place. Not a perfect solution, but things are looking up.

Time: March
Place: New York
Event: Spring break. I left behind the clinic for a week and felt conflicted. Yeah, I kind of needed a break, but don’t we all sometimes? I thought about my time as a teacher and how everyone constantly told me “you have to take care of yourself.” What’s the balance? When is enough really enough?

Time: April
Place: Family Court
Event: CV…. is formally on his way to be adopted by Mrs. E….. Everyone is very happy. Can’t wait to be there with balloons in the fall.

Time: May
Place: Unknown
Event: Off to work at a big firm in New York. Wondering how it will affect me. Will I keep my goals? Will I keep my experiences in the clinic with me? Will I remember to keep the client in mind?I don’t know. What I want to say is am I going to be the same? At the same time, I want to know that what I am doing for the firm is important. I don’t want to just write it off as corporate world work where my experience is not applicable.

I am ready to embrace this next transition.

Law Student Emily Saffitz, L’06:

Journal Week Ending 12/09/05

Even though this class took up a significant amount of time this semester, overall I must say that I have really enjoyed the experience. I intended to make an impact on the system and on my clients, which I think has been accomplished in some ways but perhaps not others. However, one thing I didn’t anticipate was the personal benefit I derived.

There were some immediate benefits to participating in the clinic, like making new friends. I have been close friends with RD since the beginning of law school, and was friendly with all of the other students, though not close. However, since experiencing this clinic together I think that we have all formed strong relationships and they now serve a unique role in my life. These are the only individuals who can understand and share my enthusiasm when I get excited about an FSP meeting. Consider these two reactions. Upon hearing that DHS worker SB has planned the meeting, (Child Advocacy Clinic student) KC responds: “Every time SB plans a meeting an angel gets his wings. ”Juxtapose this with my non-clinic friend A’s (non-CAC student) response to hearing I have a meeting on the 19th of December: “Man, that’s during finals.”

A longer lasting benefit to participating in the clinic is that I now have realized that I really cannot not do pro bono work. I must always, no matter what else is going on in my life, incorporate some sort of community work into my schedule. In addition to helping the community, it provides balance to my life, puts my “for profit” work into perspective, and gives me a great chance to interact with people with whom I might not normally interact.