Law Schools with Resources for Former Foster Kids
Are you attending law school after being in the foster care system as child? Are you driven to help children currently in the foster care system? Are there law schools out there that have dedicated resources for you? In true law school fashion… it depends.
It’s hard to find a school that specifically lists resources for folks that may have grown up in the foster system. However, we’ve found a handful of law schools that do mention foster-specific programs or resources – our list is linked at the bottom of the post. We’re going to highlight a few of the interesting programs/initiatives, but please check through the linked spreadsheet and (of course) do your own research! A quick note: we’re going alphabetically by school for our highlights.
First up is Baylor Law’s Adoption Day! This isn’t so much a program/resource as it is just a neat and meaningful event.
“In an effort to promote and celebrate foster care adoptions, Baylor Law has been hosting the McLennan County Adoption Day Celebration since 2008.”
The brainchild of a law professor and a partnership with the local Department of Family and Protective Services, Adoption Day celebrates family and community. A child-focused theme is chosen, law students dress in costume, the school is decorated to the theme, and the adopting families share cake and receive gift baskets.
Honestly, what’s most lovely about an event like this is the number of foster children and families served. In its inaugural year, 15 children and 11 families got to celebrate. By 2018 that number had doubled – 30 children and 22 families! The law student involvement has nearly tripled from 33 in 2008 to more than 90 students volunteering in 2018.
Who doesn’t love a celebration?!
Next up is UC Berkeley – well, it’s actually most of the main UC system campuses (though graduate student eligibility varies by campus). Collectively considered “Campus Support Programs for Former Foster Youth”, the UC system campuses offer a variety of support services from priority class registration, to year-round access to university housing, to community and professional development activities, to emergency funding for unexpected expenses.
While the resources do vary greatly between the campuses, the amount of care that UC has extended to building a robust program deserves praise. From the brief linked above:
“The majority of programs (7 of 9) regularly collect data on student satisfaction. Some programs also collect annual information about student needs (e.g., food insecurity, housing, and financial need); some collect intake information about student requests; and several collect data on student satisfaction with workshops and other programming. Three UCs have engaged in larger-scale program evaluations or data collection on student outcomes following graduation.”
Not only is UC trying to take care of students while they’re on campus, but the school is also attempting to track outcomes and needs to adjust for better service!
Our next highlight is a little more typical of a law school program that relates to former foster children. SMU Dedman’s Child Advocacy Clinic specifically serves current and former foster youth in a variety of legal matters. Some of the services provided include assistance with legal name changes, educational advocacy, and even help accessing siblings that may still be in foster care! The clinic also maintains a website with useful information for current and former foster youths.
As a law student, child and family advocacy clinical programs can be a wonderful opportunity for you to use your experience in foster care to better relate and better advocate for your clients. Many law schools have child and family advocacy clinics. Our list (linked below) only includes those that specifically reference foster resources or services, but it certainly does not mean that other clinics do not provide services to foster youths.
Our last highlight isn’t exactly a school, it’s a whole state! Or, rather, it’s all the law schools in the state. BYU, the University of Utah, and several leading Utah law firms joined forces in 2020 to create the Achievement Fellowships Program. The program “recognizes and supports students who have qualified for admission to law school in the face of significant challenges or hardships”, and fellows are granted full-tuition awards and access to mentorship activities throughout their time in law school. The program requirements specifically list “living in foster care” as a hardship that can be considered when applying.
If you’ve read our blog on resources for parents in law school, you can understand why I led with “it depends” when it comes to resources for former fosters. There are a lot of great resources, programs, opportunities, and even fellowships out there – but it’s much less uniform than student-parent resources. Depending on what you, the future law student, are looking for you may find lots of things, or very few things specifically relating to foster care. We’ve started this research, and you can access our list here, but as always – do your own research too!
If you’re looking for personalized one-on-one attention, you can check out our law school application consulting packages and boot camps! And never be afraid to send us an email at hello@smontgomeryconsulting.com with all of your law school questions!