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Kinship: Know Your Rights
April 2 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
FreeThis presentation is for relative and kinship families who are considering becoming a permanency resource for a child or youth they know and love who is in foster care. It may also be helpful for attorneys who represent kin, as well as other professionals working in the child welfare system, who want to understand the law and their obligations in light of recent changes to Minnesota law. This presentation will explore the rights of relatives or kin. It will address important considerations and timeframes, from a legal standpoint, at different stages of a child protection case. The presentation will also explore when to hire an attorney and what to expect if relative/kin seek representation, as well as ways to assess if an attorney is competent in these types of kinship cases.
Alisha Watkins is an assistant teaching professor in the Institute to Transform Child Protection at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Alisha teaches law and graduate social work students in the institute’s Child Protection Clinic who represent parents and kin in child protection cases. Alisha also works to develop and further community engagement regarding kinship representation. Alisha worked as a senior paralegal and law clerk for over 15 years. Alisha also became a volunteer guardian ad litem to represent the best interests of children in child welfare proceedings. Alisha attended both law school and undergrad as a non-traditional student while working full time and raising her children. She studied in Mitchell Hamline’s blended-learning enrollment option and became its first Hybrid/EJD representative for the Black Law Students Association 2017–19. During her tenure, Alisha spearheaded the creation of a national mentorship program for the group’s members.
McKenzie Daul is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) in the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin. She earned her Masters of Social Work degree from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and a Master of Public and Nonprofit Administration degree from Metropolitan State University. She is currently pursuing a law degree at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. McKenzie has been working within the child welfare and human services field for over ten years. She has both direct practice and leadership experience. She has led foster care and adoption programming, with a focus on relative and kin families and preserving familial connections. Currently she is the Family Services Programs director at Ampersand Families and works part-time at Children’s Minnesota as a Clinical Social Worker, primarily in the emergency department.
McKenzie is passionate about working with youth and families. She works to dismantle barriers and has been successful in developing programming and partnering with the staff she supervises to reduce barriers and create practices focused on an anti-oppression, trauma-informed, strengths-based, and person-centered lens.
