Fellowships: Adoption, Child Welfare, and Juvenile Law

CONTRIBUTE
to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children

Fellowships are available to incoming first year Capital University Law School (CULS) students interested in pursuing a career in adoption, child welfare, and/or juvenile law upon graduation. Fellows receive high-quality educational and experiential training, as well as financial benefits, in exchange for a commitment to spend at least the first two years of their career working in a public interest position in one of these areas of law.

Adoption & Child Welfare Law Fellowship

Adoption and child welfare law encompass a wide range of complex and challenging aspects. Adoption law professionals deal with termination of parental rights, parental consent, wrongful adoption, race and cultural issues, sexual orientation issues, and international issues. Child welfare and adoption practitioners grapple with systemic issues impacting the 500,000 children in foster care in the United States, which includes about 114,000 children who have been freed for adoption and who are waiting for permanent, loving homes. Each year, approximately 20,000 children in foster care will age out of the system without ever being placed with a permanent family. Qualified, highly trained attorneys are needed to advocate for the children, families, and child-serving agencies which come before the nation’s courts.

Felicia Beth Nekritz Juvenile Law Fellowship

Many factors place juveniles at risk of involvement with our nation’s delinquency and child protection court systems, including child abuse and neglect, substance abuse and mental health needs, and educational issues. Significantly, youth who age out of the foster care system are more likely to become unemployed, homeless, and/or involved in the criminal justice system as adults. Felicia Beth Nekritz, L’96, was committed to helping juvenile offenders through her work at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. The Felicia Beth Nekritz Juvenile Law Fellowship was established in her name to assist students who share her vision for improving the lives of juveniles through prevention and intervention, policy and systemic improvement efforts, as well as the provision of direct services for at-risk youth.

[ Click here to learn more about Felicia and the Fellowship that is named in her memory (PDF) ]

Capital University Law School and The National Center for Adoption Law & Policy

Capital University Law School is the home of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy (NCALP), an academically-based entity dedicated to improving the law, policies, and practices associated with child protection and adoption systems.

The Fellowship program, administered by Capital University Law School and NCALP, builds upon Capital's other programs that serve to develop the skills of future child welfare, juvenile, and family law attorneys: Child and Family Law Concentration, Family Advocacy Clinic, Center for Dispute Resolution, and the annual Wells Conference.

The Fellowship program allows you to combine your interest in children, youth, and families with a focused legal education to help prepare you for employment in this field. CULS’s concentration program includes stimulating coursework and practical experience to give you the skills you need. The Children and Family Law Concentration allows students to specially focus their upper-class course selections, including the nation’s only annually offered course in Adoption Law. With nationally prominent family law scholars on its faculty and a portion of its clinic dedicated to serving family violence victims, CULS provides a range of varied opportunities for students interested in serving families and children.

Fellowship Benefits

Actual benefits awarded will depend on the amount of funding available for that year. However, benefits have typically included the following:

Academic Merit Scholarship

An annual Academic Merit Scholarship

Work Opportunities

First-year summer: Opportunity to work as a paid student staff member of NCALP
Second-year summer: Stipend to help cover expenses while working full-time for a government or non-profit employer on adoption, child welfare, or juvenile law related projects
Second and third academic year: Opportunity to work as a paid student staff member of NCALP
Third academic year: Opportunity to work as a research assistant for a CULS faculty member who teaches courses related to the Children and Family Law concentration

Other Benefits

Conference stipend to cover costs (travel, lodging, and conference fees) associated with attendance at an adoption/child welfare/juvenile law related conference
Unique networking and shadowing opportunities with local alumni practicing in family law
Ability to take advantage of our location in Ohio’s capital city through involvement with legislative and policy-related reform efforts and groups
Conducting research for significant national amicus curiae cases
Participation with NCALP staff members in meetings with other child welfare professionals and organizations
Participation in developing an online child welfare/adoption journal
Opportunity to work on family law cases through CULS’s Family Advocacy Clinic
Opportunity to have NCALP's Academic Director supervise the Fellow’s upper class writing project (This upper class writing project is a requirement of CULS and can be satisfied either through a class paper, independent study, or law review paper.)

Note: The above schedule of benefits is based on a Fellow’s full-time enrollment. It can be modified to accommodate part-time enrollment.

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Expectations of Fellows

Those selected as Fellows would commit to:

Fulfill all requirements of the CULS Children and Family Law concentration
Fulfill the upper class writing requirement with a paper, note or project concerning a topic in adoption, child welfare, or juvenile law approved by the Children and Family Law Concentration director
Work full-time during the second academic summer in a government or non-profit setting on adoption, child welfare, or juvenile law projects
Work in the area of adoption, child welfare, and/or juvenile law in the two years following law school graduation (Graduates may suspend this obligation only to accept a clerkship - with the understanding that the Fellow will complete this obligation immediately following the clerkship.)
Represent the Fellowship program through active participation at events within the law school and professional community

Fellows will be required to sign an agreement regarding these commitments and failure to abide by them would result in forfeiture of the Fellowship and authority for the law school to recoup Fellowship funds expended on behalf of that individual.

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Selection Process

The Fellowships will be awarded, based on all materials submitted, interviews and reference checks, to students demonstrating scholarship, leadership, and a strong commitment to adoption, child welfare, and/or juvenile law.

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Application

Please register here to be notified when the 2010 application materials become available.

Interview
Fellowship finalists will also be required to attend an in-person interview with the Fellowship Selection Committee composed of NCALP/CULS faculty, staff, and current Fellows. Interviews will be conducted in mid-May at CULS in Columbus, Ohio.

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