CRIME VICTIM PROJECT

The Crime Victim Project provides legal services to youth victims of family, dating and domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and a variety of other types of crimes. The primary goal of the Project is to provide legal services to youth who need assistance because of the crime committed against them. Attorneys working on the Project are also appointed in felony sexual and physical abuse cases to represent the victim’s needs throughout the criminal trial process. 

OPIOID PROJECT

In 2020, Children’s Law Center (CLC), in conjunction with the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, implemented the Opioid Project to specifically serve Northern Kentucky children impacted by substance abuse. The Opioid Project uses a multidisciplinary response by combining expert attorney services with an on-staff social worker, who collaborate to provide holistic, trauma-informed services for young people affected by opioids and other substance abuse.

Education Advocacy

CLC provides specialized education advocacy to help students stay in school and access the services and supports they are legally entitled to. This includes disability rights, school discipline (suspension and expulsion), IEPs and 504 plans, enrollment and credit transfer, and other barriers to educational stability.

Stop Solitary for Ohio’s Youth

There is no law in Ohio which prohibits the placement of kids in solitary confinement in juvenile or adult facilities. Kids as young 10 may be kept in cells no larger than a bathroom without windows for 22+ hours a day. Youth in solitary confinement are often denied meaningful programming, education and recreation contributing to poor outcomes. We are committed to eliminating the practice of secluding youth in Ohio.

KEYS

KEYS to a Future Without Youth Homelessness (KEYS) is the comprehensive community plan to end youth homelessness, written by community stakeholders with leadership from Strategies to End Homelessness and Lighthouse Youth & Family Services. As of 2019, the Children’s Law Center became a funded partner of KEYS through HUD and has since worked through this program to combat legal barriers to housing faced by youth ages 18-24 in partnership with several youth-serving shelters.

Youth In Adult court storytelling project

Research has shown that youth transferred to adult court and facilities suffer long-lasting damage that can make it even more difficult for them to successfully re-enter society after their release. CLC reached out to youth who had gone through the bind over process and their families to hear their stories. Readers can access these stories, and others that we continue to receive through our story collection project, In Their Own Words.

CLC’s newest iteration of the project, our Bindover Storytelling Project, is in the works. More to come!