History of the Project

Prof. Katherine Hunt Federle, Director of the project

Drawing on the substantive expertise and interests of the law faculty, the Justice for Children Project began as a joint venture of the Moritz College of Law and the Center for Socio-Legal Studies (now known as the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies).

In establishing the Project, the Moritz College of Law and the Center acknowledged the potential conflict between opportunity and choice for children and parental liberty and the concomitant need to identify a useful standard by which this conflict might be resolved.

In November 1995, the Moritz College of Law and the Center, under the rubric of the Justice for Children Project, sponsored its first conference. Entitled Justice for Children - Meeting the Basic Needs of Children: Defining Public and Private Responsibilities, the conference attracted lawyers, scholars, and researchers from a number of different disciplines. Building on the success of that conference, the law faculty unanimously approved the creation of the Justice for Children Project.

To build on the success of the Project, the law faculty sought additional funding for the creation of a children's rights clinic. As envisioned, the clinic would provide law students with opportunities to represent children and children's issues under the supervision of both a law professor and a staff attorney.

In 1997, the Moritz College of Law obtained a prestigious academic enrichment grant from The Ohio State University to establish the Justice for Children Practicum. That grant provided funding for a full-time College of Law faculty member and Director of the Project.

With additional financial support from the Moritz College of Law and the Center, the Justice for Children Project began full-time operation in January 1998.