Through a contract awarded by the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY), the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation is leading a new collaboration, Child Welfare Champions, to improve Ohio’s child welfare system by enhancing the quality and quantity of attorneys practicing child welfare law.

Child Welfare Champions will implement a multi-pronged approach to changing child-welfare practice. It will support specialized training for child welfare attorneys, help to develop innovative service delivery models, and create incentives to recruit and keep attorneys in the field. Child Welfare Champions will also reach out to undergraduate and law students to build a pipeline of future advocates.

“This is an incredible opportunity to create better outcomes for Ohio’s children, and ultimately, to reduce the number of children in the foster care system,” said Angie Lloyd, the Foundation’s executive director.

A talented and engaged group of partners has come together to make the effort a success:

  • The Ohio State Bar Association brings statewide reach among attorneys and law students and will leverage its continuing legal education expertise to develop an annual attorney training conference and specialized legal training to improve representation in Ohio’s children services system.
  • The Public Children Services Association of Ohio has deep experience in child welfare practice and will support engagement with and training for prosecutors and children services associations in Ohio.
  • Ohio CASA will provide expertise in training and mentoring Guardians ad Litem serving in Ohio’s child welfare system and will help lead the design and implementation of the annual attorney training conference.
  • Kinnect will contribute expertise in kinship family placement and support and will provide consultation, training, and technical assistance on the needs of kinship families and the legal programming that serves them.
  • Illuminology is a market research firm that will conduct needs and barrier assessments, evaluations, and user feedback on Ohio programs.
  • Baldacci Consulting is a national leader in helping states maximize federal funding and will provide administrative claiming advisory services related to the State of Ohio’s Title IV-E drawdown methodology.

Child Welfare Champions invites child welfare prosecutors, defense counsel, child advocates, kinship attorneys, and GALs to subscribe to the quarterly newsletter. Content will include legal updates, profiles highlighting achievements from child welfare attorneys and GALs throughout the state, updates from DCY, opportunities to participate in peer-to-peer learning, and insights from Ohioans with lived experience. Subscribe by Dec. 11, 2026, and be entered into a drawing for one of three $100 Amazon gift cards.

“Child Welfare Champions presents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make an impact on an area of law that really needs it,” said Lloyd. “We encourage all child welfare advocates to follow the project and stay engaged.”

Subscribe to the Child Welfare Champions quarterly newsletter for legal updates, profiles of child welfare attorneys and GALs, updates from DCY, and opportunities to participate in peer-to-peer learning.