Standby Guardianship is a key resource and option when it comes to future planning for parents or caregivers of minor children, especially when a parent or caregiver has been diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness, is physically debilitated, or at-risk of administrative separation from their children. Designating a standby guardian can help one plan for these events at a pivotal time for families. High quality advocacy and legal representation can make a critical difference in the lives and futures of parents, caregivers, and their families.
  
This panel will present a framework for providing advice and assistance to parents and caregivers on what Standby Guardianship is and when it can be most useful for family planning purposes. Participants will leave this presentation with an understanding of the relevant legal landscape of Standby Guardianship. In addition, they will garner general skills needed to help future clients with assessing whether Standby Guardianship is appropriate for them and how to go about identifying a standby guardian and moving forward with designating a standby guardian for their child or children. This panel is ideal for attorneys, pro bono counsel, volunteer attorneys, and law graduates. The webinar is co-hosted by Mobilization for Justice and Pro Bono Net's New York Justice Initiatives.

Panelists

• Karla M. Johnson, Senior Staff Attorney, Mobilization for Justice, Inc. (moderator)
• Randye Retkin, Director and Founder of LegalHealth, New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)
• Caroline Bersak, Director of Legal Services, The Family Center
• Lauren Groetch, Assistant Director of Legal Services, The Family Center

Webinar Details

• This webinar is free and open to attorneys, pro bono counsel, volunteer attorneys, and law graduates.
• Webinar recording and materials will be posted to www.probono.net/ny/nyc/kinshiplaw2023.
• This webinar is not approved for CLE credit.

Panelist Bios

Karla Johnson, Esq., is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Kinship Caregiver Law Project (KCLP) at Mobilization for Justice, Inc. (MFJ), where she represents low-income kinship caregivers seeking legal custody, guardianship, and adoption assistance. Ms. Johnson additionally advocates for legislative change to address systemic inequities that kincare families face. Prior to joining KCLP, Ms. Johnson served as a Staff Attorney in MFJ’s Warren J. Sinsheimer Children’s Rights Program (WSCRP), where she worked to improve educational outcomes for New York students – with a focus on childhood trauma and disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. As a WSCRP Staff Attorney, Ms. Johnson successfully represented students with learning disabilities and their parents at administrative due process and suspension hearings. Ms. Johnson is a 2016 Shriver Center Racial Justice Institute Fellow. Ms. Johnson received her B.A. from Smith College and J.D. and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan.

Randye Retkin, Esq., is the Director and Founder of LegalHealth, a Division of the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG). LegalHealth is the country’s largest medical-legal partnership, Prior to joining NYLAG, Ms. Retkin served as Director of Legal Services for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the nation’s oldest and largest organization serving people with HIV/AIDS.   Ms. Retkin served as a staff attorney with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) where she established the VOLS Immigrants’ Rights Project. She is a founder of the New York Immigration Coalition and the National Cancer Legal Services Network. She is a co-author of New York States’ Standby Guardianship law and helped spearhead the expansion of the law to assist immigrant families. Ms. Retkin is a former member New York City Bar Association Ethics Committee and is a frequent presenter on Ethics.

Caroline Bersak is the Director of Legal Services for The Family Center, a multidisciplinary NYC nonprofit organization. Caroline leads The Family Center’s Legal Wellness Institute, which provides accessible, holistic legal services for low-income NYC families impacted by serious illness and life-limiting disability. Caroline has been providing legal services at The Family Center for nearly fifteen years and has been Director of the Legal Wellness Institute since 2019. Caroline received Bachelor’s Degrees in both Community Health and Public Policy from Brown University and has a JD from NYU School of Law. Caroline has previous professional experience in healthcare research and litigation. She regularly presents on legal issues affecting those with serious illness and disabilities and on social determinants of health/health-harming legal needs.

Lauren Groetch is the Assistant Director of Legal Services for The Family Center, a multidisciplinary NYC nonprofit organization. Lauren helps oversee The Family Center’s Legal Wellness Institute, which provides accessible, holistic legal services for low-income NYC families impacted by serious illness and life-limiting disability. She has been at the Legal Wellness Institute for nine years, as a Staff Attorney and Senior Staff Attorney before becoming Assistant Director in 2019. Lauren received a Bachelor’s Degree with distinction from the University of Virginia and a JD from NYU School of Law, where she was named a Herman Biggs Health Policy Scholar and a Robert McKay Scholar.