Investing in Family Legal Representation to Improve Outcomes with Gwen Clegg

In this episode, Elliott and Tecoria talk to Gwendolyn Clegg, Esq., about Oklahoma’s new statewide Office of Family Representation, where Gwen serves as the Executive Director. This office is so new, in fact, that it hadn’t even launched yet when this episode was recorded. Gwen is a parent defense attorney who has been working tirelessly to improve the quality of family representation in Oklahoma for the past 15 years. This conversation reveals how across the country, families experiencing a child welfare case suffer from poorly funded, overworked, and ill-equipped (albeit well-intentioned) attorneys, which can lead to negative, and sometimes dire consequences.

Listeners will follow Gwen through her journey of turning a vision of high-quality family representation in Oklahoma into a legislative-passed and funded reality. They will hear some of the data from other states that support favorable outcomes from this type of program, one that many states have yet to implement.

Podcast Resources

Community In-Site now has a dedicated website where you can listen to episodes, access information and resources, and subscribe to the email newsletter. Podcasts Archive

A good attorney can be hard to find for parents in the child welfare system. A new program could help. The Frontier

Bringing the National Parent Defense Movement to Oklahoma. Oklahoma Bar Association

How to empower parents and children involved in the child welfare system through uniform, high-quality legal representation. Oklahoma Family Representation

The Family Justice Initiative is a wonderful resource for high-quality legal representation of parents and children in abuse and neglect cases. Family Justice Initiative

The National Counsel for Juvenile and Family Court Judges is another amazing resource for high-quality legal representation. Child Welfare and Juvenile Law

In addition to our site partners across the country, the following people and organizations have come together to show that it is possible to fundamentally rethink how America protects children and supports families.