News Item
Meeting the Growing Demand for Parent Attorneys in Juvenile Protection Matters

Posted: Tuesday, February 2, 2021

To respond to the growing demand for high-quality legal representation for parents, guardians and legal custodians in juvenile protection matters, the Minnesota Judicial Branch through its Children’s Justice Initiative (CJI) Program has revised the qualification and training requirements for parent attorneys and secured a more flexible and accessible online training provider. 
 
The following changes were effective on February 1, 2021:
  • Experience Qualification: Attorneys applying to be listed on the roster of qualified CHIPS parent attorneys based on experience must have two years of experience, but the requirement to have handled a certain number of cases during that timeframe has been removed.  
  • Supervision Qualification: Attorneys applying to be listed on the roster of qualified CHIPS parent attorneys based on supervision are no longer required to have a supervising attorney listed on the CHIPS Parent Attorney Roster (PAR). Supervising attorneys can either be on the roster or eligible to be on the roster to serve in that capacity.  
  • Training Qualification: Attorneys applying to be listed on the roster of qualified CHIPS parent attorneys based on training need to complete a core skills training course, now defined in terms of content areas rather than the previous 18 hours requirement. The revised core skills training may vary in terms of completion time, but will likely result in a total of approximately 9.5 hours of core skills training.
  • Continuing Education: Parent attorneys no longer have the additional requirement to annually report three continuing legal education credits related to juvenile protection matters to remain on the PAR. Qualified attorneys will remain on the roster as long as they satisfy the requirements all attorneys have to retain their law license.
Qualified parent attorneys who are already listed on the PAR as of February 1, 2021 do not need to take any additional action to remain on the PAR, and they will no longer need to annually submit proof of completion of three hours of continuing education courses.  Attorneys not on the PAR as of February 1, 2021, will need to meet one of the above revised qualifications before being added to the roster.
 
The Minnesota Judicial Branch also announced a new training provider to help ensure greater access and flexibility to core skills and ongoing training. Starting February 1, 2021, Mitchell Hamline’s Institute to Transform Child Protection (ITCP) will provide high-quality, relevant, and accessible online core skills training to attorneys who represent parents, guardians, and legal custodians in juvenile protection matters the year. The core skills training has been approved by the State Court Administrator and meets all requirements of existing policy and law.
 
See Fast Facts – Changes to Requirements for Qualified Parent Attorneys for additional information.