My Father My Lawyer?
Should a parent be able to represent offspring in court proceedings without the aid of a lawyer? Apparently several parents are attempting to represent their disabled children against school districts and others required, but refusing, to provide educational and other support services by federal law. Some of these parents have had good success. So far, I’ve not heard of any disabled kids that were disadvantaged by their parents’ zealous but uninformed advocacy.
The United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, in an opinion that you can find here, but that is not marked for full text publication, ordered an appeal dismissed in thirty days, because the parents were representing their child and not a lawyer, and unless the parents obtained a lawyer.
Setting aside for a moment whether in a United States court a parent should have a right to speak for their child, why would a parent want that job? Not only are their non-profit organizations that provide lawyers for such situations, the Legal Services Corporation, www.lsc.gov, will represent disabled kids. Admittedly, I emailed a buddy inside LSC and got that information; it was not easy to find it on either LSC’s website or even the website of “legal aid” in my own state.
