Tessie Buttram

Tessie is a second year student at Creighton Unviersity School of Law. She was raised in Alaska, most of the years in Haines (a small town of about 1200). She received a bachelor's in Business Administration and Sociology from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. She has seven brothers and sisters. Tessie will be working for the Douglass County Attorney's Office, Juvenile Division, in Omaha, Nebraska, this summer.

Laurie Carafone

Laurie is a second-year law student at the University of Michigan Law School. She grew up in Massachusetts, where her family currently lives. She has a younger brother who is graduating from college this year, and a sister who is a sophomore in high school. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 1999, where she majored in English, and spent the following year working at two nonprofit organizations, which serve children and immigrant families. This summer she will be interning at the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Children's Programme, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Noreen Collins

Noreen graduated from Hunter College in 1995 with a BA, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in 1999 with a MPA, and is presently attending Brooklyn Law School. She is a native New Yorker, and has been active in the child welfare arena for the last six years. She has worked on projects ranging from foster care class action suits (ACLU) and improving the NYC family court (Vera Institute of Justice), to individual representation of children in foster care (Lawyers for Children). This summer she will work with the New York Legal Assistance Group representing battered women and their children.

Shanna N. Connor

Before beginning law school, Shanna spent two years at the U.S. Department of Education, in Washington, DC., where she wrote activity and organizational guides to encourage greater community involvement in public education. She also helped develop the Insure Kids Now! Through Schools Campaign to promote schools' participating in outreach and enrollment for the Children's Health Insurance Program. Entering her second year at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, she will serve as a co-symposium editor at the Berkeley Journal of International Law, and as an organizer for the student-run Central American Refugee Clinic. This summer, Shanna will be interning at Legal Services for Children, in San Francisco, helping families that are dealing with HIV/AIDS create permanency plans for the future care of their children.

Jennifer Dill

Jennifer is finishing her second year at the University of Maryland School of Law, where she has been working in the Juvenile Law & Advocacy Clinic representing clients in special education and juvenile delinquency proceedings. She has also been evaluating systems reform and how Maryland provides services to children and families. Last summer she worked on special education issues as a NAPIL/VISTA Summer Legal Corp Fellow at the Legal Aid Bureau. She plans to practice child welfare law when she graduates. This summer, Jennifer will be working at the Office of the Public Defender CINA Unit in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Carrie E. Doppes

Carrie became interested in the law, particularly juvenile law, when she took a social work class called Child Abuse as an undergraduate student at the University of Dayton. When she began law school at the University of Cincinnati, she noticed a sign for ProKids. She is now a second year law student. Carrie has been a ProKids volunteer for over a year now and recently started training to be a Court Appointed Special Advocate. She is looking forward to finishing her training and working as an intern at ProKids in Cincinnati, Ohio, this summer.

Jessaka Menzie Doyle

Jessaka is originally from Detroit, Michigan. She entered the Army immediately after high school and received an education through Army funding. She is now a first year law student. After graduating from Ohio State School of Law and serving out her four-year obligation to the Army, she aspires to practice law in the areas of Property and Child Welfare, to help combat the forces of poverty and neglect. Jessaka will be working for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Franklin County in Columbus, Ohio, this summer.

Tanner Kilander

Tanner grew up in a small Idaho town in the mountains. She moved to Milwaukee about seven years ago, and is now a second year law student at Marquette University. Before she came to law school, she was a foster care social worker in Milwaukee County for about two years. Tanner loved her work, but became increasingly frustrated with her inability to provide adequate services to all the families she worked with due to high caseloads, limited resources and dangerous foster homes. So, she decided to go to law school to open some doors for herself in the child welfare field, and is hoping to become a Children's Court Judge, or to be an administrator at the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare or other urban child welfare agency. Tanner will be working at the Children's Confidentiality Project in Greendale, Wisconsin, this summer.

Elizabeth D. Locker

Beth is a former school teacher and current University of Michigan Law School student. Her interest in child advocacy is matched only by her devotion to civil rights work, and she has often combined the two-for instance, by working to make schools safer for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students. Beth grew up in mid-Michigan, went to Dartmouth for undergrad and lived in Metro Detroit while teaching. She is now living in Ann Arbor and would be happy to serve as a "tour guide" to any out-of-state fellows during the training. Beth will be working at the Child Advocacy Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School this summer.

Erin O'Donohue

Erin is a first-year student at Yale Law School, where she is a supervising student in the Advocacy for Parents and Children Clinic and student director of the Temporary Restraining Order Project and the Domestic Violence Clinic. Prior to enrolling in law school, Erin worked for several years with organizations that assist women, children, and families impacted by domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. She has also coordinated a legal assistance program for families of children with disabilities and investigated guardianship cases before the San Francisco Probate Court. Erin has worked in Ireland, Belgium, and Russia on projects involving children's and women's rights, and will spend this summer working in the Manhattan office of the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Division.

Judson Toleman Pitts

Originally from Salt Lake City, UT., Judson will be a second year student at the University of Maryland School of Law this fall. Judson, and his wife, Becky, have two boys, Reuben and Timothy, and spending time with them is his favorite part of each day. As an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he has spiritually and morally counseled with over 200 young men and women during the past 5 years. He will work with the Baltimore City Public Defender this summer, as well as the Human Resources Office for the Maryland State Attorney General, filing motions and preparing memos in cases involving the termination of parental rights, the special educational needs of city children, and jurisdiction transfers for youth from Maryland's Adult system.

Benjamin Ramm

Ben developed his interest in child welfare law while working for one semester at the Child Advocacy Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. He grew up near Seattle, Washington. He split seven years between attending and then teaching a public speaking class at Stanford before attending the University of Michigan Law School, where he has just completed his second year. This summer Ben is working with the Washington State Attorney General's Office representing the Department of Social Services in child protection proceedings in Seattle.

Jill Rogers

Jill is originally from Columbus, Ohio, and currently is a first year student at Columbia Law School. She has some experience teaching at both a preschool for students with disabilities and a high school. She is especially interested in children's law as it affects and is related to education. Jill will be working at the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts this summer.

Ramona Toole Sakhanokho

Ramona graduated from Berea College in May 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. She earned a Masters in business administration from Alabama A&M University in July 1999. Currently, she is a second year law student at Mississippi College School of Law. Ramona was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where she is the oldest of three siblings. She has had personal experiences with domestic violence and abuse and her experience has shaped many aspects of her life, including her life purpose to provide legal help and guidance to families in similar situations. After graduating from law school, Ramona plans to pursue a career in child advocacy. Her desire is to protect the most vulnerable members of our society--the children. She will be working with Judge Patton and Attorney Malcolm Harrison both with the Hinds County Youth Court this summer.

Timothy J. Sielaff

Tim is currently a first year law student at the University of Michigan Law School. He has volunteered at Sunday schools and after-school programs, and has worked with a town corporate counsel that drafted an anti-threat ordinance to protect school children and teachers. His mother is a teacher; and through her experiences, he has been exposed to the overwhelming need for child welfare protection. Tim hopes the fellowship will provide him with training and experience that will allow him to contribute to an effort to answer those needs. He will be working for the Wayne County Prosecutor, Child Abuse Bureau, this summer.

Paula M. Sommerkamp

Paula is originally from Winston-Salem, NC. She graduated from Wofford College with a BS in psychology and Spanish. After college she worked for four years with high-risk juvenile delinquents in a rural county in NC where she did both individual and family counseling. She also worked part-time, on the weekends, at a twenty-eight day alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility for adults, running the family component of this program. Paula left both of these jobs in 1998 to attend the masters of social work program at the University of South Carolina. She graduated from the masters program in May of 2000 and took the licensure exam in August, so she is a licensed master of social work. Presently she has just finished her first year of law school at the University of South Carolina. This summer Paula will be working with the public defenders office in their family law area as well as attending summer school.

Marla Swartz

Marla has just completed her first year of law school at the University of Michigan. She received a bachelor's degree in American history from Northwestern University in 2000. Marla is originally from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her child advocacy experiences include a summer at the Children's Defense Fund in Washington, DC. and disability advocacy work with the Association for Community Advocacy in Ann Arbor. In her (not so extensive) free time, Marla enjoys writing, theater, being outside and traveling. She will be working at the University of Michigan Law School's Child Advocacy Law Clinic this summer.

Catherine Hurst Weber

Cathy is a first year law student at the University of Pittsburgh. She graduated in 1999 with a degree in Elementary Education from Ball State University. Cathy has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for six children. In this capacity, she has served as the advocate for the best interests of six children in juvenile dependency proceedings. She is originally from Muncie, Indiana, and will spend the summer as a law clerk at the Allegheny County CASA program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.