The purpose of the Family Defense Project (FDP) is to provide advocacy on behalf of low-income parents involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in, dependency court proceedings. In particular, Black and Brown parents are at disproportionate risk of being aggressively surveilled and unnecessarily separated from their children by the family regulation system (also known as the child welfare system). The dependency court system is highly discretionary and often conflates poverty with failed parenting, which could be mitigated by adequate provision of social services instead of by separating families. Too often, racism and bias also bleed into dependency court decisions, which leads to less institutional trust of parents of color and a misguided belief by the system that their children are better off in state custody.
Though the family defense movement has strong roots in New York City, similar momentum has yet to receive widespread support in California. FDP’s goals are: (1) to provide interdisciplinary legal services to families caught up in the family policing system in partnership with local organizations; and (2) to support the expansion and evolution of family defense in the Bay Area through policy advocacy and community organizing.
FDP students will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of projects to advance interdisciplinary family defense in partnership with East Bay Family Defenders, a project of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. FDP projects for Fall 2025-Spring 2026 are as follows:
(1) Know Your Rights Materials: In partnership with Berkeley Law Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice and Movement for Family Power, students will have the opportunity to research and develop crucial KYR materials for parents and organizers. Potential topics include pregnancy, substance use, and CPS and family court and protests.
(2) Family Court Watch: Dependency and Family Court are closely intertwined, and students will observe family court and document potential issue areas for pro se parents. Members may also develop more accessible resources for parents and families navigating custody issues in family court.
(3) Intakes and client support: Students will conduct non-urgent intakes for East Bay Family Defenders and assist clients with short term tasks. Students may also have the opportunity to assist parents in contesting their placement on the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI).
In addition to these distinct projects, there will be multiple opportunities for students to involve themselves in community organizing and policy advocacy with Reimagine Child
Safety Bay Area and Beyond (RCSBAB), assist clients through the Bar Association of SF’s Dependency Representation Program, and partner with Berkeley’s new family defense clinic once it launches.
FDP’s goal for our 2025-2026 projects is to offer students a range of experiences through which they can build a diverse skill set, from client-facing work to research and writing to community organizing, while substantively learning about a crucial yet often overlooked area of law.
Supervision: Students in FDP provide legal services under the supervision of attorneys from the East Bay Family Defenders, a project of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.
Time Commitment: Time commitment will vary depending on demand and a student’s chosen/assigned project(s). As a baseline, our goal is for students to commit to 20 hours per semester, or 2-3 hours per week.
For more information, please contact the student leaders at familydefense@berkeley.edu.