Nadia is a second-year law student at the University of South Carolina. Prior to entering law school, Nadia worked as a licensed social worker in the Juvenile Court Division of the Office of the Public Defender of Maryland. As a social worker, she prepared psycho-social reports for the Court, testified as an expert, supervised social work interns and trained public defenders statewide on issues relating to waiver and disposition hearings. Currently, she is an Advisory Board Member for the Southeast Regional Juvenile Defender Center in New Orleans, LA, a Board Member of the law school's Pro Bono Programs, a volunteer Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children and a member of the Public Interest Law Society. This summer, Nadia will be clerking for the Children's Law Center in Charlotte, NC, where under the student practice rule she will provide legal representation to juveniles charged with misdemeanors.

Barbara came to law school after a social work career involving investigations of child abuse and neglect, foster care, adoptions, mediation and directing an Area Agency on Aging. She has a lengthy history of community involvement: having been a member of the Conway City Council and Mayor pro-tem of the City of Conway, SC, the Community Coalition of Horry County, the Friendship Baptist Church and various other boards and associations. At the law school, Barbara has earned the Karen Lee Memorial Scholarship and is vice justice elect of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity. She is divorced, and parents a teen-aged nephew. Barbara will be working for the Institute for Families in Society in Columbia, South Carolina.

Melissa, a native of Massachusetts, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1997. During her college years she completed an internship at the New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Women, culminating in the drafting of a legal handbook for women, and volunteered for Vermont Adult Basic Education, helping Vermonters earn their GEDs. After college graduation, she completed an internship at Bonz/REA, a Boston real estate consulting firm, and then moved to New York to work as a paralegal in the Frauds Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. While in New York Melissa volunteered at Inwood House, a residence for pregnant teenage girls. As a 1L at the University of Michigan, she participates in the Family Law Project and the Women Law Students Association. This summer she will intern at Children's Advocacy Project of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Tanya, a 23-year-old, has just completed her first year of law school. Unlike many of her fellow classmates who have dreamed of going to law school for years, she was inspired to pursue a law degree in the midst of her junior year at Winthrop University. As a sociology major, she had been doing a lot of volunteer work around the community, primarily with homeless and at-risk children, and soon learned that she would be able to assist the children and their families more effectively if she could help them assert their legal rights. After that epiphany, she worked at the juvenile division of the public defender's office, enrolled in law school, and has now completed her first year of law school. This summer, Tanya is working for the General Counsel of the Department of Social Services in Columbia, SC.

Kai-lin is in a joint degree program in law and social work at Columbia University. Last summer, she worked in the New York Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Division in the Bronx. This year, she was a social work intern at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, working with patients and families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the Pediatric Surgical/Medical Admissions Unit. This summer, she will be working at The Door, a comprehensive youth center offering free legal services to under-resourced 12-21-year olds.

Darcy began working with children as an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts. After graduating, she continued working on children's issues as an intern in Senator Edward Kennedy's Education Office, where she realized that a law degree would assist her to advocate on behalf of children and families in crisis. At the University of Maryland School of Law, she assisted the City of Baltimore in prosecuting negligent landlords in lead paint poisoning cases and works as a legal advocate in the legal clinic at the House of Ruth, a Baltimore shelter for battered women and children. This summer Darcy will be interning in Boston at Children's Legal Services, Inc., which provides legal representation to indigent clients in child abuse and neglect cases and serves as guardians ad litem in child abuse, neglect, delinquency, education and medical matters.

Beth graduated from the University of Michigan in May 1999 with a bachelor of arts in Psychology and Communication Studies. While she was an undergraduate student, Beth was active in tutoring underprivileged children and teaching conflict-resolution skills to elementary school children, and she explored the topic of "Media Portrayals of Divorced Families and Children From Divorced Homes: An Analysis of the Present Relationship" in her Honors Thesis. Beth is currently a student at the University of Michigan Law School where she is active in the Family Law Project and the Women Law Students Association. She is originally from northern Michigan and enjoys tennis and playing with her golden retriever. Beth will be working for the University of Michigan Child Advocacy Law Clinic this summer.

Donna spent ten years as the Youth Director for the Marine Corps before deciding to go to law school. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Memphis, where she published two articles on parental liability and domestic violence. She is a first-year at Mississippi College School of Law. She is privileged to be the mother of a great daughter, Jessica, who is fourteen. She also has an amazing father who lives in North Carolina. Both gave her incredible support and strength in making this big career move. Donna will be working for the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Donita lived in New York, New Mexico, Bloomington, IN, and back in her hometown of Indianapolis before beginning law school at the University of Cincinnati. In her third year this fall, she will serve as Book Review Editor for the Human Rights Quarterly and as a founding editor of the Freedom Center Journal of Law and History, which is scheduled to publish its first issue in the next academic year. Upon graduation, Donita intends to work in the child welfare field in the Cincinnati area. Donita will be working for ProKids in Cincinnati this summer.

Carrie is a native of Massachusetts who attended Tulane University, where she earned degrees in Women's Studies and African Diaspora Studies. Since graduation so many years ago, Carrie has worked as a program director at Camp Fire Boys and Girls, Inc. Prior to her enrollment at Tulane Law School Carrie worked as a Legal Caseworker, advocating for New York City foster children in family courts from Brooklyn to the Bronx. Carrie is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to child welfare, which allows attorneys, social workers, psychologists, doctors, and teachers to work together toward achieving a child's best interests. She will work this summer at the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts, Inc.

Marsha is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She earned a BA in Psychology and African-American Studies from Yale University and an MA in Psychology from New York University. Marsha learned the value of loving others and the importance of dedicating her life to children and families through he work as a LEAP Counselor (a CT mentoring, teaching and community-organizing program) and as a Program Director for Reach for the Stars (an adolescent, upward-bound program in NYC). Currently, a student at Georgetown University Law Center, Marsha is a Child Law Fellow actively seeking scholarship to continue to fight against the subordination of youth in our country. This summer Marsha will be working in the Legal Division of the Administration for Children's Services in NYC. "Through direct service and scholarship I want to help children and other traditionally marginalized groups find their own voice. My motto is: Service to God, Family and Children."

Faiza graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Sociology with High Distinction in May 1998. She currently attends Northwestern University School of Law where she is a second-year. While in law school, she serves as a tutor for a high school student through Chicago Youth Services, was the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Diversity Coalition, was a Co-Chair for the South Asian Law Students Association and was on the Student Faculty Appointments Committee. She will work at the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society of New York and the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform this summer.

Bethany has recently completed her third term at the University of Michigan Law School. Bethany also holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Kalamazoo College and a Master of Social Work, with an emphasis on policy and administration, from the University of Michigan. As an undergraduate, and continuing through her enrollment in the MSW program, Bethany worked at a residential treatment facility for emotionally impaired children, and as a masters student, worked with sexual assault survivors at the University of Michigan Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center. Most recently, Bethany served as the Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Michigan, directing the development efforts for community service and leadership activities at the university. Through her continuously morphing career, Bethany has remained focused on child advocacy issues through her volunteer work with sexually abused children and children from violent households. Bethany will be working for the University of Michigan Child Advocacy Law Clinic this summer.

Jennifer is a first-year law student at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, MI. In 1997, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan. Upon graduation, she coordinated a study at Northwestern University entitled "HIV/AIDS Risk in Clinically Disturbed Adolescents." In 1999, she received her Master's degree from Harvard University where she specialized in childhood risk and prevention and interned at the "Children and the Law Program" at Massachusetts General Hospital. In each of her experiences, Jennifer noticed the central role attorneys play in affecting the health and welfare of at-risk youth. Jennifer hopes to combine her training in child development and the law to improve the quality of legal representation for children. She looks forward to meeting others who share her passion for Child Welfare Law. Jennifer will intern this summer at the Child and Family Abuse Bureau in Detroit.