Barton Child Law and Policy Center
The Barton Child Law & Policy Center provides representation to youth in juvenile courts and ensures safety, well-being and permanency for abused and court-involved children in Georgia; prepares child advocacy professionals; and inspires excellence among the adults responsible for representing, protecting and nurturing these children.
The Barton Child Law and Policy Center’s clinical offerings include the Public Policy and Legislative Clinic, Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic and the Appeal for Youth Clinic.
The Barton Center also sponsors the Emory Summer Child Advocacy Program, Know Your Rights Project, the Child Welfare Legal Academy, post-graduate fellowships, community outreach and professional education opportunities.
The Barton Center serves as a resource to the Georgia and national child advocacy communities through its website and listserv that highlight current issues and provide access to research and advocacy tools. To visit the Barton Child Law and Policy Center community website, go to www.bartoncenter.net.
Our Student Legal Clinics
The Barton Center offers three separate student legal clinics: the Public Policy and Legislative Advocacy Clinic, the Juvenile Defender Clinic and the Appeal for Youth Clinic.
- The Public Policy and Legislative Advocacy Clinic: The fall Public Policy Clinic focuses on policy development and strategy. The spring Legislative Advocacy Clinic coincides with the Georgia General Assembly. In both, students live the life of a public policy advocate—identifying problems, collaborating with other advocacy organizations, interacting with court personnel and government agencies, drafting legislation and participating in legislative and administrative advocacy strategies.
More> - The Juvenile Defender Clinic is a direct representation clinic in which student attorneys represent clients in delinquency and status offense cases in juvenile court. It also provides legal advocacy in school discipline, special education, mental health and public benefits situations when such advocacy is derivative of a client’s juvenile court case.
More> - The Appeal for Youth Clinic seeks systemic reform in Georgia through the provision of holistic appellate educational advocacy for youth in foster care and post-conviction representation of youthful offenders in our juvenile and criminal justice systems.
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Student Perspective
“I enjoy that my experiences at the Barton Center have allowed me to see what it looks like to effect change systemically at a large scale through legislation and then individually through court visits and participating in individual hearings. I think that’s invaluable.”
- Shar-Day Smith
Second-year student from New Orleans
Undergraduate College: Howard University