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University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) National Policy Director Amy Harfeld was quoted on a Michigan law signed by the Governor to stop the state from taking foster youth social security benefits.

University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) National Policy Director Amy Harfeld was interviewed by The New York Times for an article titled, “Melania Trump Unveils New Investment Accounts for Foster Children.”

University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) National Policy Director Amy Harfeld was quoted by ABC 15 in Arizona on the struggle of foster families to get notification of federal Social Security benefits.

Ed Howard, Senior Counsel and Senior Policy Analyst at the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) at the University of San Diego School of Law, was quoted in an article titled, “Juries find social media platforms knowingly harmed children.”

SAN DIEGO - Jessica Heldman, Executive Director of the Children's Advocacy Institute (CAI) and Fellmeth-Peterson Associate Professor in Child Rights at the University of San Diego School of Law, appeared on NBC 7 San Diego to comment on the landmark New Mexico verdict ordering Meta to pay $375 million in damages related to user safety failures.

SAN DIEGO - University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) Executive Director and Fellmeth-Peterson Associate Professor in Child Rights, Jessica Heldman, quoted in an article titled, “Trouble Inside San Diego’s Youth Detention Facilities.”

SAN DIEGO  – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) National Policy Director Amy Harfeld was quoted in an NPR article titled, “Trump administration tells states to end 'orphan tax' on foster kids.” The Trump Administration has directed states to stop taking Social Security benefit checks from children and youth in foster care—a practice critics call the “orphan tax.” In a December letter to governors, Alex Adams, the assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who oversees federal child welfare policy, urged states to cease withholding survivor benefits that are paid to children whose parent has died but which many states currently keep to help cover foster care costs. According to the article, Amy Harfeld has long pushed for reform. She says conservatives are joining because they see the question as "government overreach into kids' private assets. Because it wasn't the state's money to take and they took it anyway."

SAN DIEGO — University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) Founder and former Executive Director Robert C. Fellmeth published an op-ed titled, “Juries, Not Politicians, Will Soon Decide the Fate of Child-Harming Social Media Platforms.” In his column, Fellmeth argues that widespread evidence has shown major social media platforms are harming children through facilitating extreme content, addiction, mental health issues, and more. Fellmeth criticizes politicians at both the federal and state levels for failing to enact effective laws to protect kids, largely due to weak legislation, loopholes like Section 230, and Big Tech influence. He points to recent legal developments that allow more lawsuits against platforms to proceed past early dismissal and give juries the power to decide whether companies should be held financially responsible for harm. Fellmeth suggests that ordinary jurors, rather than lawmakers or corporate interests, may soon be the key force in holding social media companies accountable and prompting meaningful change. To read the full piece, please visit Townhall .

SAN DIEGO (December 16, 2025) — University of San Diego (USD) School of Law’s Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) will soon be launching the LEGACY Project: Legal Advocacy for Children and Youth, a new legal clinic serving youth experiencing homelessness in San Diego. This work is made possible in part by a $20,000 grant from the San Diego County Bar Foundation . The clinic will begin at San Diego Youth Services’ Storefront Shelter and will provide free help with civil legal needs that drive instability, including matters involving housing, education, and public benefits. Staffed for an initial year by an experienced attorney working alongside USD Law students, the clinic will hold regular hours at the shelter, offer follow-up services when needed, and build a referral network for issues beyond its scope. Plans call for expansion to additional sites serving a similar population as the program grows. CAI will measure impact by tracking clinic sessions, the number of clients served, case outcomes, and partnerships formed with community providers. The project will also train law students in trauma-informed client work, strengthening the pipeline of advocates for underserved minors. Faculty supervision for the new clinic will be provided by Fellmeth-Peterson Associate Professor in Child Rights Jessica Heldman ’04 (JD) , who serves as CAI’s executive director. “This grant makes it possible for us to meet young people where they are and address the legal barriers that too often keep them trapped in instability,” said Heldman. “We are deeply grateful to the San Diego County Bar Foundation for investing in a project that combines direct legal support with student training to create lasting change for youth experiencing homelessness.” Part of the USD School of Law since 1989, CAI advocates for the health, safety, and well-being of kids and teens through training, research, public education, and impact advocacy. Through its Dependency Practicum, Youth Justice Practicum, and Policy Clinic, law students assist attorneys in delinquency matters and policy reform involving foster care, juvenile justice, children’s health coverage, and education. CAI has led state and national initiatives protecting foster youth’s federal benefits and promoting online accountability and safety across social media platforms, while providing legal education to professionals who serve young people. SDCBF awards grants to programs that expand access to justice and deepen public understanding of the legal system, with support from the region’s legal and business communities. The foundation has funded dozens of local legal aid and public interest organizations that assist San Diegans experiencing hardship.

SAN DIEGO  – University of San Diego (USD) School of Law Children’s Advocacy Institute’s (CAI) Ed Howard, Senior Policy Advocate, was quoted in a story reported in The Los Angeles Times titled, “Online child safety advocates urge California lawmakers to increase protections.” California is leading the way in legislative restrictions on social media and artificial intelligence. During the recent legislative session, Governor Newsom signed a slate of legislation intended to make the internet safer, particularly for minors.  However, Newsom vetoed what was the most aggressive bill saying it was too broad and could prevent children from accessing AI altogether. According to the article, Assembly Bill 1064 would have prohibited making companion chatbots available to minors if the chatbots were “foreseeably” capable of promoting certain behaviors, like self-harm, disordered eating or violent acts. It would also have required independent safety audits on AI programs for children. Ed Howard, senior counsel and policy advocate for CAI, said one of its goals for next year is to give more teeth to two current laws. The first requires social media platforms to provide a mechanism for minors to report and remove images of themselves being sexually abused. The second requires platforms to create a similar reporting mechanism for victims of cyberbullying. Howard said the major platforms, like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, have either not complied or made the reporting process “incredibly difficult.” “The existence of such imagery haunts the survivors of these crimes,” he said. “There will be a bill this year to clean up the language in [those laws] to make sure they can’t get away with it.” Howard believes legislators from both sides of the aisle are committed to finding solutions. “I’ve never before seen the kind of bipartisan fury that I have seen directed at these [tech] companies,” he said. Read the full article by Katie King in The Los Angeles Times .