Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center
Child Advocacy Resource Links

The Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center Main Directory has more information about this organization, plus links for our own pages: Child Advocacy News; Guardian Ad Litem Standards; Guardian Ad Litem Handbook; and Missouri Law relating to GALs and CASAs.

Persons in the area of Rolla and Phelps County, Missouri, may also want to look at the Rolla/Phelps County Area Resources Page, which has contact information and web-links for local resources related to child advocacy, child abuse/neglect, domestic violence, social services, emergency services, and legal services.

Table of Contents for this Page

  • Child Advocacy Organization Links
  • Child Abuse/Neglect Organization Links
  • Definitions and Articles about Child Abuse/Neglect
  • Permanency Planning and Foster Care
  • Misc. Other Links Related to Representing Children in Court

    Child Advocacy Organization Links

  • Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center
  • National CASA Home Page
  • CASAnet has resources for CASA volunteers and GALs
  • Missouri CASA Programs has addresses & phone #s for local CASA programs
  • American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
  • National Association of Counsel for Children
  • University of Michigan Child Welfare Law Program
  • For Kids' Sake! radio program

    Child Abuse/Neglect Organization Links

  • Citizens for Missouri's Children - statistical information about children in Missouri; the Kids Count in Missouri 1996 Report; plus links to national child advocacy resources.
  • University of Iowa Child Abuse Resources Page
  • National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN)
  • National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
  • American Humane Society - Child Protection Division and Child Protection Links
  • Child Abuse Prevention Network and Tom Hanna's Bookmarks
  • National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and the Missouri chapter of NCPCA
  • HandsNet Children, Youth & Family Resource Links
  • National Children's Advocacy Center - despite the name, the various Children's Advocacy Centers around the country appear to have very little to do with "advocacy" (representation of children or speaking for children); these Centers provide a comfortable place where abused children can meet with the various law enforcement officers, DFS investigators, counselors, CASAs, GALs and others involved in a case in familiar surroundings. (This sounds like a great idea, but I wish they'd chosen a different, more descriptive, less confusing name.)

    Definitions and Articles about Child Abuse/Neglect

  • What is Child Abuse? (from Court TV website)
  • Survey Shows Dramatic Increase in Child Abuse and Neglect, 1986-1993
  • CASAnet Executive Summary of 3rd Nat'l Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect
  • What is Child Abuse/Neglect?
  • Signs of Child Abuse
  • What are Some Causes of Child Abuse and Neglect?
  • Missouri Bar on-line brochure "You Can Stop Child Abuse" (may still be Under Construction)
  • "Abuse" and "Neglect" are defined at 210.110 RSMo.
  • Novelist and Child Advocate Andrew Vachss has a number of very good articles about child abuse on two websites, The Zero and Down Here.

    Foster Care and Permanency Planning

  • NCJFCJ Permanency Planning Project
  • Questions & Answers about Foster Care (from Court TV website)
  • "Welfare State Denies Homes to Thousands of Foster Children" - Heritage Foundation article

    Misc. Other Links Related to Representing Children in Court

  • Yahoo: Child Advocacy
  • Yahoo: Child Abuse
  • National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
  • Court Improvement Project for Handling of Abuse/Neglect Cases
  • American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Preparing a Child Witness for Testimony in Court - relates primarily to criminal cases
  • Some Key Changes to the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA)
  • WebCityUSA - Guardian Ad Litem Links and Resources this page is completely Under Construction (no content at all), but I marked it for future reference to see what they do with it.
  • Children's Legal Center - Under Construction - marked for future reference
  • NYS Guardian Ad Litem (mdm). This page has several links to anecdotes of parents who had problems dealing w/ GALs and Law Guardians in court.
  • Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program
  • CASAnet Library: Guardian Ad Litem section has some reports on effectiveness of GALs that look interesting, but they require that you have the Envoy page viewer to read them. (They were kind enough to permit me to HTMLize the Guardian Ad Litem Effectiveness Study.)
  • Utah Guardian Ad Litem Program 1994 Audit and 1996 Follow-Up

    The ABA Child-Court Internet Mailing List - "This forum will discuss efforts to improve the court process for child abuse and neglect proceedings and related cases. It will be available for discussion among those working with the 47 state and District of Columbia court systems that are participating in the federally-funded (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau) Court National Improvement Initiative, plus other interested organizations and individuals. This is a Closed list." Although this is a Closed List, the term "other interested organizations and individuals" seems to be interpreted to include GALs, CASAs, and others who work with children in the court system, even if not directly involved with a state court improvement project. Also, I have been advised that "the group is not just for the discussion of the court reform projects, per se, but [also] the reform issues being addressed by the projects. For example, there was some discussion [...] about strategies for achieving better legal representation of the parties, as well as what actually constitutes good legal representation. In fact, the child-court group is to discuss all areas of court improvement, including improvements in the quality of legal representation." Here are links for more info or to subscribe to the child-court mailing list.


    Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center Main Page

    Update Announcement: 02 November 2002
    These pages are way out of date, last updated in 1997. Nevertheless, they are still getting about 3500 hits per year (9000 for this links page!), and a few of those people tell me the links are helpful to them. So, rather than just deleting the site, I am leaving it up but am removing all of the email links (which mostly result in massive quantities of spam for me) and some obviously outdated info. I will also put in notices like this one on each of the main index pages, just for those people to whom the lack of recent updates is not otherwise obvious. If you really really really need to contact me, there will be a graphic with my email address on the Feedback page.

    I do not plan any further updates to these pages. As I go through them making the changes mentioned above, I will delete any information that I know to be outdated, but I am not going through to citecheck every page. Please keep in mind that all of the content here was created at least five years ago, and check carefully to see what may have changed since then. There will be one exception: someone sent me a new set of GAL standards for the state of South Carolina, and I intend to add those to the page of GAL Standards. I will continue to add any other GAL standards that are sent to me, although the update may not always be very prompt.


    Notice : This page is provided as a public service by the Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center. This page contains links to various information pages and reference pages useful for legal research. The Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center has no control over the content of the linked pages, and cannot be responsible for the accuracy of any information in the linked pages. This page is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not legal advice by the Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center. If you need advice concerning a specific legal matter, you should consult an attorney in your own jurisdiction.

    This Child Advocacy Resource Links Page is copyright © 1996, 1997 by Charles Bennett. While we encourage you to create web-links to this page for easy use and reference, any copying, printing, saving, or otherwise downloading or reproducing of this page itself is strictly prohibited.


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