Under New York Law, in certain enumerated proceedings, children are entitled to be represented by counsel in the family, supreme, surrogate, and appellate courts. The Attorneys for Children Program is the governmental office responsible for maintaining a list of attorneys qualified to represent children, and as such, seeks to provide the highest quality legal services to children involved in the judicial system.
The Office of Attorneys for Children, subject to the supervision of the Appellate Division, establishes procedures for the administration of the program. The Attorneys for Children Program is comprised of approximately 520 attorneys who are certified to the panel by the Appellate Division to serve in the ten counties of the Second Judicial Department, namely, Kings, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Orange, Dutchess, Rockland, and Putnam counties. In addition, we have a separate qualified Mental Health Professionals panel, which consist of Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Physicians, and Social Workers. Furthermore, our resources available to our attorneys include, but are not limited to, investigators, process servers, and interpreters, who are available to assist our attorneys in advocating for their clients. Our office continues to strive to enhance our program, and ultimately enable attorneys to provide robust and zealous representation.
Finally, in Kings, Queens and Richmond Counties, our attorneys are dual certified to represent indigent adults in Family court and Supreme Court proceedings. The Office of Attorneys for Children manages these attorneys in these three counties.