Helping Vulnerable Kids Be Seen and Heard

Here’s something you might not expect to hear from foster kids: “I want to spend more time with my lawyer.”

But this is the sentiment Kristin Mateer hears from the hundreds of kids her organization, East Bay Children’s Law Offices (EBCLO), represents in court each year.

Launched in 2009, when the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office closed its dependency practice, Mateer and her colleagues wanted to create an organization that could more effectively – and compassionately – represent traumatized young people navigating the byzantine court system.

The Oakland-based nonprofit has a sterling reputation for what Mateer, its Executive Director, calls “holistic, vigorous legal advocacy,” helping youth understand their rights, express their needs, and be guided through a complex series of systems including the child welfare, education, probation, and mental health systems.

Mateer and her colleagues believe in youth, and this belief is reflected in EBCLO’s motto: “Children should be seen & heard.” This respect helps their clients trust in them as adults committed to family reunification – or, if that is impossible, legal permanency through adoption or guardianship or sometimes “emancipating” at age 21. In 2021, EBCLO advocated at nearly 5,000 court hearings, and helped almost 300 youth reunify with their families.

The ripple effect of EBCLO’s work is part of its power. EBCLO recently represented a toddler girl removed from a family struggling with domestic violence and drug abuse. It was not until the girl’s mother trusted that EBCLO’s goal was the same as hers – for the family to reunify – that she moved forward with substance abuse treatment. It was the EBCLO attorney who pushed the Court to send her client home having observed her and her mother together at home during weekend visits.

With the pandemic stressing the education system to the breaking point, EBCLO is also furthering its partnership with schools by identifying children’s special needs and connecting their clients to supports at school. And EBCLO is expanding its Youth Voices Group, a brain trust of previous youth clients who can gain the trust of children beginning their journey into this process, and show what’s possible on the other side of their traumas.

During 2021, as COVID’s impact on struggling families became increasingly clear, EBCLO’s message got through to a lot of Bay Area folks. The number of supporters rose by 40%, running the gamut from very small gifts, to a few unexpected larger donations.

EBCLO is listening to, and helping, the most vulnerable members of our community.

Are we?