Child Welfare Certificate

The Child Welfare Certificate allows student to specialize in an important and developing area of law. Through this certificate students will have an opportunity to focus on child welfare issues, courtroom advocacy, trauma- informed practices, and secondary trauma in the legal system.

Students interested in pursuing the certificate must first submit a notice of intent. You may submit a notice of intent up to and no later than the penultimate (second to last) semester of your law school tenure. For example, if your anticipated graduation is May of 2028, you have until December of 2027 to file your notice of intent.

Courses are taught by Mitchell Hamline faculty and practicing attorneys in multiple areas. This allows students to explore child welfare from a variety of perspectives or to focus on a specific area of interest. The Child Welfare Certificate is comprised of 18 credits. All of these credits count toward your J.D. degree. Many concurrently satisfy other J.D. requirements.

Foundational course (8-9 Credits)

Students must complete the following courses:

Evidence (3 credits)
Family Law (2 or 3 credits)
Child Abuse and the Law (3 credits) or Child, Parent, State (3 credits)

Electives (at least 6 credits)

Students must complete six credits from the following list of courses:

Resilient Practice for Clinic Students
Indian Child Welfare Act and Child Protection and Adoption Proceedings
LGBTQ+ Youth in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems
Trauma-Responsive Legal Advocacy
Juvenile Justice
Domestic Violence Law and Poverty Seminar
Family Mediation
Feminist Jurisprudence
Mental Health Law Seminar
Poverty Law
Seminar: Critical Theory
Seminar: Education Law
Seminar: Homeless Youth in America
Seminar: Race and the Law
Advanced Evidence
Expert Witness Advocacy
Immigration Law
Advanced Writing Requirement in Child Welfare*
Approved experiential learning credits in excess of the practical experience requirement

*Long paper

Students are encouraged (but not required) to complete their Advanced Writing Requirement related to Child Welfare. If a student chooses to do so, any credit received will count towards the elective requirement.

Practical experience requirement

To obtain the Child Welfare Certificate, a student must obtain practical experience with a substantial foundation in child welfare through the equivalent of a minimum of three (3) credits (135 working hours) provided by one or more:

Child Protection Clinic
Approved Externship or Residency
- Examples: Child Protection Division of a County Attorney’s Office, Children’s Law Center/Public Defender representing juveniles in child protection cases, Externship with attorneys representing GALs or parents, District Court Externship with Judge on CHIPS rotation

Courses used to satisfy the Practical Experience requirement will count as Elective Courses.

Not-for-credit practical experience with a substantial foundation in child welfare may meet the Practical Experience requirement subject to the approval of your advisor. The not-for-credit practical experience must be approved by your advisor before work begins. Your advisor may require documentation and/or reflective writings describing the time worked.

Professional development

Complete 8 hours of advisor approved child welfare related professional development including:

- Attending CLEs
- Attending CJI/CIP
- Attending Policy Meetings
- Interviewing/networking with stakeholders, or
- Assisting with ITCP trainings

Must maintain a 3.0 GPA in certificate coursework

Notice of intent

Students are encouraged to apply early in their law school tenure. Declaring an intent to pursue a Child Welfare Certificate creates no obligation to complete one.

Certificate Notice of Intent