The 19th Annual Children's Law Institute: Community Matters

Community is a sense of fellowship with others sharing common goals. Our child welfare community is united by a commitment to better the lives of children and families in New Mexico. In times like these, when we’re being asked to do this important work with smaller budgets, fewer resources, and increasingly complicated cases, how we unite as a Community matters.

We can do more to affect community matters together than we can alone. How we work together matters, too. This year’s CLI will focus on how we intentionally build unity in our community, and do better, together.

The Children’s Law Institute is a time to come together as a community, rejuvenate, hone our skills, and find inspiration. This year, the CLI will offer 35 workshops and plenary speakers from New Mexico and all over the country. Our workshops are designed to refresh our thinking about core topics, inspire our practice with new ideas, and leave us feeling united and energized. Uniting as community is this year’s call to action.

Our opening keynote speaker, Dr. Stacey Patton, an award winning writer and child advocate will share her own story about how she found inspiration while growing up in the child welfare system in New Jersey. She’s the author of a memoir called That Mean Old Yesterday, and several other publications.

We’re fortunate to have Alan Webber, founder of Fast Company Magazine as the closing keynote on Friday. Alan will share relevant lessons from other sectors about building efficient and effective teams within our community.