Centering Mental Health in Child Welfare Advocacy and Reasonable Efforts

This session explores the critical role of mental health advocacy in child welfare cases, with a focus on representing both parents and children. Participants will examine how mental health needs intersect with safety, permanency, and well being, and how to effectively incorporate those considerations into litigation and case planning. The program will also address how to challenge and strengthen reasonable efforts to ensure services are appropriate, accessible, and truly responsive to family needs.

Presenters:

Losmin Jimenez Gregory, JD – Jimenez Gregory Law, LLC

Losmin Jimenez Gregory is an experienced attorney and national advocate in immigration law, right-to-counsel, and access to justice for children and families. With nearly two decades of experience, she has held leadership roles at Advancement Project, Maryland Legal Aid, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Her work has supported immigrant rights organizations nationwide on detention conditions, education access, and racial justice. She testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and has represented unaccompanied children through Kids in Need of Defense (KIND).

She is admitted to practice in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. Losmin is the founder of Jimenez Gregory Law, LLC, and Access to Justice Consulting, LLC, where she partners with organizations to strengthen compliance, build effective programs, and expand access to high-quality legal services for children and families.

Margo Townley, MSW, PsyD – Townley Integrated Psychological Services, LLC

After almost 20 years in and around Child Protection, Margo Townley realized that DCF/MA’s practices are far behind the science, and so she earned a Doctorate to be able to tell them so. She has been driven by spiteful nerdiness to seek out information that she can use to educate the System in order to do more help than harm. Mental health is impacted before, during, and after removal and has lasting impacts on children and adults. Discussing developmental trauma and helping the system better understand its impact is paramount to shifting paradigms to help children get the supports and services they need to be successful and not return to the system. It’s why she does what she does.

CLE

California (60-minute hour)
This participatory activity has been accredited by the State Bar of California for a maximum of 1.5 hours of General credit for live and on-demand participation. Attorneys must sign in for CLE.

Colorado (50‐minute hour) 
This course is pending accreditation by the Colorado Board of Continuing Legal and Judicial Education for a maximum of 1.8 units of General credit for live and on-demand participation. Attorneys must sign in for CLE. Colorado is a self-report state.

Attorneys in all other jurisdictions must seek CLE accreditation individually if desired.