Brown at 70
The Massachusetts Bar Association’s Juvenile &
Child Welfare Law Section is excited to present its Eighth Annual Juvenile & Child Welfare Conference on Thursday, April 10,
from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., at the UTEC Center in Lowell. This conference will
focus on youth justice and child protection issues related to geographical and educational segregation.
The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme
Court decision, ruling that segregated schools violate the equal protection
clause of the 14th Amendment, turned 70 in 2024. This conference will consider
the legacy and the future of Brown
as it informs barriers to school achievement in Massachusetts. The conference
will begin with a plenary panel discussing the state of racial and economic segregation in Massachusetts
and some of the pathways forward.
This year's keynote speaker will be Dulcineia (“Duci”) Goncalves, deputy
chief counsel of the Youth Advocacy Division for the Committee for
Public Counsel Services. Driven by a passion to advocate for youth and challenge the inequities
within the legal and educational systems, Goncalves has dedicated her
professional career to being a public defender.
As deputy chief counsel, Goncalves provides leadership, training, support and
oversight to nine staff offices across Massachusetts and approximately 300
private attorneys accepting appointments for cases in juvenile court. She
also serves as a senior leader of a nonprofit, the Youth Advocacy Foundation,
which is focused on shutting down the school-to-prison pipeline.
Goncalves is a recipient of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2012 Access
to Justice Defender Award. In 2019, she was appointed by Massachusetts Gov.
Charlie Baker to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee.
Other conference highlights will include:
- Holistic representation of immigrant children
- Representing transition-age youth
- Emerging adults
The Massachusetts Bar Association’s Juvenile & Child Welfare Section
Council is proud to announce that the recipients of the Annual Juvenile and
Child Welfare Award are Marlies Spanjaard, Esq. and Ryan M. Schiff, Esq.
Attorney Spanjaard his the Director of Education Advocacy for the Youth Advocacy
Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Attorney Schiff is
an experienced appellate, criminal, and civil litigator. He has briefed and
argued a wide range of criminal and civil cases before the Massachusetts Appeals
Court, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and the United States Court of
Appeals for the First Circuit.
Do not miss this exclusive opportunity to network with colleagues, program
faculty, and the leaders of the juvenile and child welfare bar.
This conference is approved for 6 YAD/ CAFL credits.
Special pricing of $50 is
available for practitioners, who are not MBA members, on
the CAFL, YAD, and Mental Health Litigation Division panels, and members of the Essex County Bar Association, the Greater
Lynn Bar Association DCF Attorneys and non-profit attorneys. Email education@massbar.org
to register and receive the special pricing.
Registration for the conference is required by noon on Monday, April
7.