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Module 4: Additional Tools Resources to help states and partners support civil legal aid

This module has a potpourri of additional tools to help connect a wide range of policy priorities to legal aid including via webinars and data sources.

This Toolkit will continue to grow. To hear about updates and new tools or to provide feedback, send an email to jgp@american.edu.

Webinars about Legal Aid and Effective Government

Data Sources

  • Census Bureau
  • Census Bureau’s Quick Facts (offers state-level demographic data)
  • Census Bureau’s American FactFinder
  • American Community Survey (offers community-level demographic data)
  • Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KID COUNT (looks at trends in child well-being)
  • Your state’s Department of Community and Economic Development
  • National Association of Counties (offers county-level demographic data)
  • USA Facts (provides data and reports on America’s population, government finances, and government’s impact on society)
  • USA Spending (tracks federal spending to show how money is being used in communities across America)
  • The Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse, established by the U.S. Department of Health Administration for Children and Families, conducts reviews of research on programs and services intended to provide enhanced support to children and families, including kinship navigation models. The Clearinghouse also makes their Handbook of Standards and Procedures available online.
  • The National Data Arvhive on Child Abuse and Neglect provides high quality datasets, documentation, and technical support for foster care-related studies.
  • The Children's Bureau collects case-level information from state and tribal Title IV-E agencies on all children in foster care and those who have been adopted with Title IV-E involvement. ACF publishes the annual AFCARS Report, which provides the most up-to-date national statistics on foster care and adoptions. See FY 2018's report (released October 2019). 
  • The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System is a voluntary data collection system that gathers information from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico about reports of child abuse and neglect. The Children's Bureau publishes the annual Child Maltreatment report on data provided by the states. See 2017's report (released January 2019).
  • The National Youth in Transition Database collects information about youth in foster care and those who have aged out of the foster care system. As of June 2019, the Children's Bureau has published six data briefs using findings from these surveys.
  • Annie E. Casey Family Program's KIDS COUNT maintains data and statistics on the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children on local, state, and national levels.
  • Child Trends has reports and data on early childhood, education, and youth, including databanks on foster care and maltreatment.
  • National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC) has an interactive map with the latest civil right to counsel activities, the status of civil right to counsel law by case type (child welfare, paternity, guardianship, etc.), the efforts in which the NCCRC is involved, and the states where NCCRC has a presence in policy development.
  • Bureau of Justice Statistics (runs the National Crime Victimization Survey, publishes data about courts, corrections, Native American justice statistics, and law enforcement)
  • The Justice Index at the National Center for Access to Justice at Fordham Law School (has four subject matter indexes on access to justice)
  • The Self-Represented Litigation Network's map gallery has several interactive maps, which include data on civil courts and disasters, among others
  • The World Justice Project has released its 2019 Rule of Law Index. Among other things, the Index ranks 126 countries on Factor 7.1, “accessibility and affordability of civil justice.” On that factor, the U.S. tied for 99th with Mozambique, Uzbekistan, and Zambia
  • National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC) interactive map (gives a 50-state view of: the latest civil right to counsel activities, the status of civil right to counsel law by type of case (child welfare, paternity, guardianship, etc.), the efforts in which the NCCRC is involved, or the states where NCCRC has a presence
  • The Collateral Consequences Resource Center (CCRC) released a report documenting the number of laws passed in 2018 to reduce barriers to successful reintegration for people with a criminal record. The CCRC also drafts annual reports on new legislative developments, participates in court cases challenging specific collateral consequences, and provides recommendations and research in connection with policy reform efforts

 

Toolkit Links

The Justice in Government Project

Learn more about the Justice in Government Project.

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