Segment #10: Bias in Child Welfare: How it Impacts Permanency Efforts in the First 90 Days

Presenters: Danielle Ramirez, David Meyers

Length: 1 hour

Please Note: Quiz questions will appear throughout the video that must be correctly answered in order for the video to progress. At the conclusion of the video, you will see links to use for submitting your MCLE Sign-In form and completing an MCLE evaluation. Upon receipt of your MCLE Sign-In form, you will be sent an MCLE certificate.

Overview: This presentation will discuss how racial and poverty-based bias impacts child welfare cases, specifically during the first 90 days; what lawyers, judges, and social workers can do to address bias, specifically with regard to critical decisions made in the first 90 days; key decision points and the different impacts in communities of color and impoverished communities; and potential bias with regard to mandatory reporting, how relatives and NREFMs are treated on placement decisions, removal orders at disposition, and access to services for different communities, etc.

Presenters Bios:

Danielle Ramirez serves as Lead County Counsel at the San Joaquin County Counsel’s Office, where she is assigned to represent the San Joaquin County Human Services Agency. Prior to her employment with the County Counsel’s Office, she was employed at the San Joaquin County Public Defender’s Office where she was appointed by the court to represent indigent adults and appointed to represent children who were charged with crimes. In addition to her duties as a Lead County Counsel, Ms. Dunham-Ramirez is also an experienced trial attorney who is responsible for advising employees of the San Joaquin County Human Services Agency on issues involving the abuse, neglect, and abandonment of children. Ms. Dunham-Ramirez is also responsible for training newly hired Agency social workers about how to effectively testify in court, on court report writing, and about the Agency’s duty to provide reasonable services to families. Ms. Dunham-Ramirez attended California State University California where she majored in Criminal Justice. Ms. Dunham-Ramirez received her Juris Doctor from Lincoln Law School of Sacramento, where she received the American Jurisprudence Award in Criminal Procedure.
David Meyers is the principal shareholder of The Law Offices of David M. Meyers and founding COO of Dependency Legal Services (DLS), where he helps administer the contracts DLS holds to represent parents and children in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, Marin, Solano, Placer, Yolo and Stanislaus Counties. He is also a national consultant, trainer and attorney advocate in child welfare cases. He has served as a Senior Attorney with California’s Judicial Council, Center for Families, Children and the Courts, where he developed statewide curriculum development and training for attorneys and court professionals engaged in juvenile law practice, and represented the California judiciary on a number of national and state boards and workgroups dedicated to improving attorney representation and child welfare systems. He is a consultant with the American Bar Association’s National Resource Center for Juvenile and Legal Issues and a Steering Committee member of their National Alliance for Parent Representation.
He holds a Bachelors Degree in Journalism and Music from the University of Florida and a JD from the University of Arizona.

MCLE: The University of San Diego School of Law is a State Bar of California-approved MCLE provider and this event has been approved for 1 hour of Recognition and Elimination of Bias MCLE credit. At the conclusion of the training segment, you will see links for submitting your MCLE Sign-In form and completing an MCLE evaluation. Upon receipt of your MCLE Sign-In form, you will be sent an MCLE certificate.

View Segment #10