STAFF ATTORNEY POSITION
This staff attorney’s role in our agency’s
abuse/neglect area will primarily involve providing legal backup for
non-attorney staff members who are not only investigating alleged abuse and
neglect incidents impacting adults and children with disabilities but also
proposing systemic remedies to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the
future. Tasks typically include but are
not limited to confirming that all DLAC staff timely comply with Tennessee laws
and agency policy requiring mandatory reporting of abuse/neglect allegations to
designated state agencies, reviewing specific allegations to determine the
applicability of a specific portion of the federal laws and regulations which
grant investigation authority to protection and advocacy agencies in regard to
abuse/neglect of persons with disabilities, ensuring that agency staff comply
with all confidentiality requirements contained in applicable laws and
regulations, educating outside entities regarding our agency’s authority to
investigate abuse/neglect of people with disabilities, ensuring that outside entities
grant to DLAC staff the level of access necessary to conduct such
investigations, and providing all other necessary legal oversight to DLAC staff
conducting abuse/neglect investigation and monitoring activities. In addition, this staff attorney will identify
abuse/neglect issues that appear to systemically impact people with
disabilities and propose solutions for addressing those issues. Due to the nature of abuse/neglect allegations
and the material typically encountered during those investigations, this staff
attorney should be prepared to review on a regular basis potentially disturbing
descriptions and images.
As the staff member primarily responsible for
implementation of our Juvenile Justice Project, this staff attorney will also directly
provide services to children with disabilities and their family members in
order to assist in navigating the juvenile justice system. This project’s goal is to assist families in
achieving results that both account for a child’s disability and effectively
meet his/her disability related needs. Whenever
possible, our Juvenile Justice Project also generally attempts to reach a
resolution that will divert children with disabilities back into their regular
school setting. In addition to
providing services to children with disabilities and their families, this staff
attorney will create materials and conduct trainings to educate the general
public, parents, schools, defense attorneys, court personnel and others on
issues that may decrease unnecessary referrals of children with disabilities to
the juvenile justice system. Training
topics include but are not limited to the following: 1. The IDEIA’s requirement
that school systems provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to
children with disabilities, 2. Information about disability related behaviors
that can lead to juvenile court referrals along with suggestions for ways to
effectively address those behaviors in a school setting, and 3. Information
about how disability related behaviors may impact a child’s ability to
participate in his/her own defense and/or create a negative perception of the
child in a court setting. Although the staff
attorney in this position will frequently provide input and resources to
juvenile defense attorneys, DLAC’s Juvenile Justice Project does not
directly provide juvenile defense services.
In addition, this staff attorney will have the opportunity to provide
significant input into the continued development of this project.
In addition to the specific subject area activities,
DLAC will also encourage this staff attorney to take advantage of opportunities
to pursue systemic litigation in his/her subject areas. It is also likely that this staff attorney
will have the opportunity to co-counsel with other agency attorneys on issues
which arise in other agency priority areas.
Licensed