Listen to Judith Sandalow
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Judith Sandalow
Executive Director
Children's Law Center
Audio Transcripts
On the Children's Law Center
When someone without money stumbles, the fall is more painful; there's not a safety net and more horrific things happen. For a lot of our clients, there's nobody to step in until we come along. We're not trying to win court cases; we're trying to solve problems for children. So when we take on a child as a client, we may go to court and file a motion and win that way, or if it requires going and buying bunk beds and helping to set them up so a child moves quickly, we'll do that—but all within the framework of providing legal services. Family, health, and education are sort of the three critical foundational elements for children, and we try and support them in each of those areas.
On Advocating for the District's Children
We represent children whose parents have been charged with abuse or neglect. It's our job to be their voice in court, but also to advocate for the kinds of services they need to overcome the trauma and to help them, if at all possible, reunite with their parents as a stronger family unit, or to get them into a long-term, stable home through adoption or guardianship.
We have another program also working with those kids in the abuse and neglect system where instead of representing the kids, we actually represent their caregivers. And in both of those programs, we're not only giving children homes, we're also helping to solve the healthcare and education needs of those kids.
On Providing Adequate Care
I was lucky enough to be raised in an upper middle-class home. My father was an academic. I went to an elite college and an elite law school. I didn't think it was anything strange to say that the kids we represent are going to get the same quality legal representation that I was taught to provide. I was taught to provide it.
In other jurisdictions, lawyers who represent children might have 250 cases. Well you can't do anything good for a kid if you're representing 250 kids. You can't do the kind of careful preparation any of the major lawyers at the major firms do on behalf of their clients.
On Extended Family Networks
One of the strengths in DC is our extended family network. I mean, the traditional, African American family in the District of Columbia has a wealth of strength based not just on the mother and the father, but aunts and uncles and grandparents and relatives—16,000 kids are living in grandparent-headed households in DC. We've always worked hard to help children stay in their extended family networks.