NYCLA TO HOST CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION EVENT: NANETTE DEMBITZ LECTURE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Anita Aboulafia 212-267-6646, ext. 225, aaboulafia@nycla.org

 

NYCLA TO HOST CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION EVENT:

NANETTE DEMBITZ LECTURE – THE EFFECTS OF ASFA AND NEW YORK’S PERMANENCY LAWS ON NEW YORK CITY’S FAMILY COURTS AND FAMILIES: WHAT SHOULD THE NEXT 10 YEARS LOOK LIKE?

 

April 10, 2008 – New York, NY – On Thursday, April 17, the New York County Lawyers’ Association’s (NYCLA) Family Court and Child Welfare Committee is hosting the Nanette Dembitz Lecture at the NYCLA Home of Law, 14 Vesey Street, beginning at 6:00 PM. The lecture topic is “The Effects of ASFA and New York’s Permanency Laws on New York City’s Family Courts and Families: What Should the Next Ten Years Look Like?” The speakers are: Hon. Lee H. Elkins, Kings County Family Court; Sharon E. Selby, Esq., Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP, part of the team that prepared the City Bar Council on Children’s position paper, “The Permanency Legislation of 2005: An Unfunded Mandate – Critical Resource Needs for New York City’s Children and Families”; Michele Cortese, Esq., Deputy Director, Center for Family Representation, Inc. and previously a law guardian and attorney for foster care agencies; and Sabra Jackson, Parent Advocate, Child Welfare Organizing Project. The moderator is Stephanie Gendell, Associate Executive Director for Policy and Public Affairs, Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York Inc.

 

The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA), which was enacted by the federal government last year, seeks to improve the safety of children, promote adoption and other permanent homes for children who need them, and support families. This new law makes changes and clarifications in a wide range of policies established under the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, the major federal law enacted in 1980 to assist the states in protecting and caring for abused and neglected children.

 

Hon. Nanette Dembitz, for whom the lecture series is named, was a family court judge and NYCLA director who was a staunch advocate for children’s rights.

 

The Nanette Dembitz Lecture is among the myriad NYCLA events taking place during NYCLA’s Centennial year celebration, which commenced in April 2007 and ends in December 2008. NYCLA (www.nycla.org) was founded in April 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual identity. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.

 

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