While California has adopted progressive laws related to the well-being of children in foster care, many of them have been poorly implemented. One example is the court-appointed attorney system, where many attorneys take money from the state to represent the interests of foster children in court, but never even contact or meet them. In 2022, Advokids began working with the Western Poverty Law Center and 12 other partners to gather data on the extent of the problem by making a massive push to survey every caregiver and older foster youth in the state about their experience with their court-appointed attorney. Their goal was to use survey results to influence the California Judicial Council to create an effective protocol for reporting attorneys who fail in their obligations.
Advokids hired Facente Consulting to provide expert advice on their survey design and dissemination strategy to ensure the final report would be seen as containing valid and important findings. We helped construct the electronic survey and provided technical support during the survey implementation period, and are now leading the quantative data analysis and reporting, which will include a final written report of findings and a visually impactful slide deck that helps Advokids present their findings to the Judicial Council.