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Approach
 Our Approach

Providing and testing solutions

We not only provide child advocate attorneys to pilot jurisdictions, but we also evaluate the impact of our efforts.

Serving

Children involved in custody proceedings

Ensuring that children have a voice through a child advocate attorney.

Who we serve

  • Courts appoint us to represent children in private custody cases. Services provided at no cost to parents
  • Children between the ages of nine and seventeen.
  • Cases involving children with special needs, family violence, rejection of a youth’s gender identity or sexual orientation, relocation of a parent, parental substance use disorders, and other concerns impacting children

Evidence BaSE

Research and Evaluation

  • Needs Assessment: To better understand challenges and complexities facing children and families in contested family court cases, The Child’s Voice Project is conducting a mixed-methods needs assessment.
  • Pilot Project Evaluation: Our pilot project is evaluated using a rigorous, quasi-experimental design to better isolate and understand the impact of child advocate attorneys on family outcomes, economic preservation for families involved in litigation, child maltreatment prevention, promotion of family protective factors, and the reduction of court burden.
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Common Case Issues

The CVP approach is best used for contested custody cases that involve one or several complexities.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence includes physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological, or technological actions or threats of actions that cause injury or fear within an intimate partner or family relationship.

Coercive Control

Coercive control is a pattern of non-physical abuse which includes emotional abuse, surveillance and monitoring, isolation from friends and family, stalking, economic abuse, legal abuse and systems manipulation.

Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment can take on many forms, such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or can include a failure to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, physical or mental health care, supervision, or exposure to substance use.

Children with Special Needs

Custody cases involving children with special needs (i.e., Autism Spectrum Disorder, neurodivergence, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, developmental delays, or mental health conditions) can be especially complex, and challenging for courts to navigate.

LGBTQIA+ Youth

Custody cases involving youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ can be especially challenging, particularly when parents do not agree on the best approach to navigating identity and expression.

Parental Substance Use Disorders

1 in 8 children have at least one parent with a substance use disorder and 1 in 10 children have at least one parent with an alcohol use disorder. Custody cases involving substance use issues can also include additional complexities such as allegations of child maltreatment, resist-refuse dynamics, and more.

Contact Problems

Parent-Child Contact Problems and Resist Refuse Dynamics

Throughout the course of custody cases, there can be a host of issues that arise regarding contact between parents and child(ren). Parent-child contact problems often refer to the broader range of reasons that explain contact problems in the context of high-conflict custody disputes. Resist-refuse dynamics are a more specific set of issues that explain describe contact refusal. Parent-child contact problems and resist-refuse dynamics cause significant burden for courts, and exacerbate stress and strain for children and parents.