Our mission
Juvenile Rights Project, Inc. is an Oregon non-profit corporation founded to provide high-quality legal services to children and families who cannot afford counsel. We do this through individual representation in juvenile proceedings and through class-wide advocacy in the courts and the legislature.
Who we are
JRP is a leading champion for children and youth in Oregon, an office devoted to representing young people. We win immediate improvements in the lives of individual children who have been abused or neglected. After identifying system-wide problems, we work with partners across the state on policy-level solutions, using training and technical assistance, administrative and legislative advocacy, and class representation to improve the lives of Oregon's most vulnerable young people.
How our work is organized
JRP carries out its mission through two units that work side by side.
Defense unit
The defense unit acts as a children's public defender firm. JRP attorneys are appointed by the juvenile court to represent children in delinquency, dependency, and termination of parental rights cases, at both the trial and appellate level. This unit is funded through a contract with the Oregon Public Defense Services Commission.
Advocacy unit
The advocacy unit works like a children's legal services office, staffed by attorneys and a social worker so the team can take an interdisciplinary approach. It provides information, individual and class representation, administrative and legislative advocacy, technical assistance, and training across the state. The advocacy unit is funded through professional services contracts, grants, donations, and attorney fee awards, and does not receive funding from the Legal Services Corporation, filing fees, or the Campaign for Equal Justice.
Our history
JRP began in 1975 as part of Multnomah County Legal Aid, with attorneys and law students representing youth in delinquency cases and in a class action involving a state juvenile correctional facility. In 1980 it joined Oregon Legal Services and continued its advocacy through lawsuits aimed at preventing the incarceration of minors in adult jails and improving conditions in state foster care.
In 1985, JRP became an independent non-profit corporation, in part because of restrictions on the kind of work that could be done on behalf of poor children and youth. It has championed Oregon's young people ever since.
Board of directors
JRP is governed by a volunteer board that brings together experience in law, healthcare, education, business, and child development:
- Krispen Culbertson, President
- Karen Shean, Vice President
- Todd D. Massinger, CPA, Treasurer
- Mike Chewning, Behavioral and Developmental Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
- Cameron J. Dardis, J.D.
- Susan Fischer
- Emily Kropf, J.D., Classroom Law Project
- Sara Lowinger, J.D., Miller Nash LLP
- Sharon A. Reese, J.D.
Staff
JRP's work is carried out by an Executive Director, Janet L. Merrell, along with a team of staff attorneys, social workers, investigators, legal assistants, and administrative staff who support children and families across Oregon.