The Youth Law Center is a non-profit, public interest law office that has worked to protect abused and at-risk children since 1978. With offices in San Francisco, the Center works nationally to serve children, focusing particularly upon the problems of children living apart from their families in child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The goal of the Youth Law Center's work is to ensure that vulnerable children are provided with the conditions and services they need to grow into healthy, productive adults.

Staff attorneys investigate reports of abuse of children in adult jails, juvenile detention facilities, state institutions, and child welfare systems, and use training, technical assistance and negotiation to bring about needed change. If abusive conditions or practices continue, the Center uses litigation as a last resort to protect children and ensure humane treatment.

Over the course of its history, the Youth Law Center has brought about extensive changes and improvements in conditions and services for hundreds of thousands of children throughout the country. The Center's staff attorneys are widely recognized as leading legal advocates in children's law. Staff attorneys work with legal services attorneys, children's advocates, service providers and private lawyers serving the indigent to support their work on behalf of poor children. Our services include consultation, technical assistance, the provision of written materials and co-counseling selected cases affecting large numbers of children. We also collaborate with other advocates to educate the public on the problems and needs of poor children, and provide national leadership and advocacy in issues affecting children. Center staff are often called upon to provide information to legislators and to offer expert testimony on the rights and needs of children.