tamara.steckler

Tamara A. Steckler is the Attorney-in-Charge of the Juvenile Rights Practice of the Legal Aid Society in New York City (JRP), supervising a staff of 330 attorneys, social workers and paralegals who represent over 34,000 children and young adults each year in child welfare, delinquency, PINS, appellate and impact litigation proceedings in all five boroughs. She has been active in numerous state and city working groups and task forces addressing issues of child welfare and juvenile justice, including the Governor’s Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice, the New York State Task for on the Future of Probation, the New York City Juvenile Justice Advisory Council on the implementation of “Close to Home”, New York Statewide Committee and New York City Working Group to Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities in JD and Child Welfare Matters, New York State Bar Task Force on Family Court, New York Statewide Child Welfare Interdisciplinary Collaboration Group, the New York State Juvenile Use of Orders of Protection Project Advisory Board, as well as the New York City Executive Committee for Child Welfare Practice. She was also instrumental in passing legislation in New York that capped the number of clients an Attorney for a Child could handle at any given time. She has published various articles including Litigating Racism: Exposing Injustice in Juvenile Prosecutions and Perspective: A New Era in Representing Children and speaks publicly in numerous forums regarding issues of child welfare and juvenile justice.