John Mattingly of the Annie E. Casey Foundation leads a panel appointed by the federal court to review family policing practices in New York City. He comes back with a scathing critique of what happens in Family Court.

Using this report as a catalyst for change, a group of law professionals—including Martin Guggenheim, Susan Jacobs, and Philip Segal, among others—meet formally to propose a new model for representation to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation awards an initial $250,000 grant to begin piloting this groundbreaking model for family defense.

From there, the Center for Family Representation (CFR) was established with three staff members. This includes Susan Jacobs as the Executive Director and Michele Cortese as Deputy Director, who begins recruiting staff and organizing a 22-part training series for parents, lawyers, and advocates throughout the city.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation awards an initial $250,000 grant to begin piloting this groundbreaking model for family defense.

From there, the Center for Family Representation (CFR) was established with three staff members. This includes Susan Jacobs as the Executive Director and Michele Cortese as Deputy Director, who begins recruiting staff and organizing a 22-part training series for parents, lawyers, and advocates throughout the city.

CFR hires its first team, consisting of an attorney, social worker, and parent advocate who had been through the system themselves. The team takes referrals to represent any parent, anywhere in the city, to begin piloting this new model.

CFR becomes the first legal services agency in the city to include system-impacted parents as a core part of its team.

CFR is able to demonstrate that the children of its clients spend less time in the foster system than other children in the city. Its team continues to grow, and now works with 75 families a year.

New York City awards CFR a contract to bring its family defense model to scale, and CFR becomes the primary provider representing parents in Manhattan Family Court.

CFR helps organize the first ever National Parent Representation Conference with the American Bar Association.

CFR publishes its first article in American Bar Association (ABA) Child Law Practice on its “Cornerstone Advocacy” approach, which starts a series of articles published by the ABA on CFR’s advocacy and reunification strategies.

The article gains national attention and CFR begins to receive requests from other states to help them replicate its model.

New York City awards CFR a second contract to become the primary provider representing parents in Queens Family Court.

CFR develops and hosts its first three-day “Cornerstone Institute” workshop for practitioners from the state of New Mexico.

The multi-day workshop was well-received and today, CFR trains more than 1,000 professionals throughout the country each year, including judges, case workers, and other attorneys who want to learn from CFR’s expertise in family defense.

The New York State Bar Association recognizes CFR with an award for Promoting Standards of Excellence in Mandated Representation, stating it is a “recognized innovator in parent representation, and a tireless advocate for legislative and policy reform.”

CFR conducts an extensive survey of its team and clients on the most pressing needs of the families it serves. The survey reveals that children often re-enter the foster system due to economic and housing challenges, not new neglect allegations.

In response to this survey, CFR launches its “Home for Good” program, which begins with a focus on housing assistance.

CFR expands its Home for Good program, offering the same interdisciplinary model to its existing family defense clients who need housing and public benefits, immigration, and criminal defense services. Today, these holistic services have become the standard for how CFR operates to support families across a variety of interconnected legal systems.

CFR now has a staff of 85 and a budget of more than $8 million. To date, it served nearly 7,800 families and trained more than 10,000 practitioners in 24 states. Fewer than 10,000 children in New York City are in the foster system and the average length of foster stays for the children of CFR clients has been reduced by more than 50% since 2007.

The Obama administration issues a memo by Commissioner Raphael Lopez to all 50 states, citing CFR as 1 of only 3 “exemplary models” that should be replicated. The Commissioner notes that high-quality, interdisciplinary services like ours are critical to achieve better outcomes for children and families.

Michele Cortese is named Executive Director of CFR.

CFR’s appeals team achieves victory in In re Elizabeth C., a case that clarifies that a parent is entitled to an emergency hearing when they are excluded from their child’s home.

CFR’s appeals team also achieves victory in In re Jaurelious G., where we establish that a diagnosis of a mental health issue does not mean that children are neglected.

In response to the surge of migrants apprehended at the U.S. southern border and separated from their families, CFR sends our Immigration Litigation Supervisor to conduct a day of Credible Fear Interviews and provide supervisory support at Albany County Jail.

Michele Cortese is named as the New York City family defense provider representative on the New York State Commission on Parent Representation. Soon after, the Commission publishes its first interim report recommending the replication of interdisciplinary family defense models like CFR across the state.

New York State offers CFR a small grant to bring its interdisciplinary model to youth being prosecuted in Family Court, and we launch our Youth Defense Practice.

CFR also launches the Community Advocacy Project to provide “Early Defense” for parents during ACS investigations and representation at SCR hearings to help parents amend state records that limit their job opportunities.

A major research study by NYU School of Law and Action Research, funded by the Casey Family Foundation, confirms what CFR’s data has shown all along: that our model dramatically shortens the time children spend in the foster system with no risk to child safety.

CFR becomes a partner organization with the Human Resources Administration (HRA) to provide our clients with greater access to public benefits and to submit Supportive Housing applications.

CFR hires a consultant to begin formal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work internally.

CFR continues to stay open as an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York State awards CFR with a contract to expand our Youth Defense Practice in both Manhattan and Queens.

CFR comments on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposed changes to the family-based immigration system that would make it harder for Americans to sponsor immigrant family members.

As a result of CFR’s advocacy efforts, the State Central Registry (SCR) Reform Bill is signed into law, shortening the amount of time an indicated neglect case can stay on the SCR and raising the standard of proof for reporting.

CFR supports the passage of Repeal 50-a, which increases transparency by allowing public access to police misconduct records.

CFR team members examine the organization’s internal policies and culture through the anti-racist lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

CFR’s appeals team achieves victory in In re Tai-Gi K. Q.-N. B., where a higher court restores the parental rights of CFR’s client, noting that the foster agency did not support her when her children first came home.

Now, fewer than 8,500 children are in the foster system. More than half of CFR families avoid the foster system altogether and almost 80% of our youth clients avoid pre-sentencing incarceration.

CFR provides early defense services to over 100 clients and SCR advocacy to nearly 85 clients. Since 2019, these services have helped more than 300 children avoid the foster system. When we are able to work closely with a parent, our team successfully amended and/or sealed SCR records 100% of the time.

Efforts by the Advocates Housing Workgroup—which CFR co-chairs—lead to an ACS and NYCHA memorandum supporting parents working to overcome substance addiction who live in public housing.

To date, our Civil Defense team has helped nearly 300 parents avoid eviction or maintain safe housing. We have also presented to thousands of professionals and community members on the overlap between immigration and family defense representation, in addition to wide-scale immigration issues like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
A CFR-backed anti-shackling bill becomes law and dramatically restricts the use of handcuffs on youth.

A CFR-backed bill that increases the minimum age of prosecution for juvenile delinquency from 7 to 12 becomes law.

CFR staff present at the Columbia Law School and the paper “The Surveillance Tentacles of the Child Welfare System” is accepted for publication in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law.

CFR continues its DEIB commitments through the formation of white and BIPOC affinity groups and hires our first Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Alicia Williams, who brings a deep knowledge of DEIB work to the organization.

To date, CFR has served nearly 12,000 families and reduced the cost of the foster system by more than $50 million for New York City. Our budget is over $15 million and our staff increased by 38% since 2015.

CFR staff members serve on 39 government commissions, task forces, and community working groups addressing policy reform.

CFR hires its first father as a parent advocate.

CFR opens its office in the Bronx, marking the third borough it serves.

CFR launches its Family Defense and Advocacy Clinic with Fordham Law School.

Tehra Coles is named the Executive Director of CFR, bringing with her years of expertise on a variety of topics related to the criminal legal system and previous experience as the litigation supervisor for policy and government affairs at CFR, where she represented parents in family separation proceedings.

CFR launches its Client Emergency Fund, which aims to streamline and strengthen the process of connecting our clients to resources in times of crisis.

CFR opens its fourth office on Staten Island, marking the fourth borough it serves.

CFR re-launches its Associate Board, a volunteer council that advocates on behalf of CFR through fundraising and volunteer initiatives.

Founding Chief Financial Officer Genevieve Christy steps down after 20+ years of service and Samantha Miele is named Chief Financial Officer after serving in various roles on CFR’s fiscal team since 2016.

Executive Director Tehra Coles is named a 2024 Nonprofit Power Player by PoliticsNY and amNY.

In honor of Black History Month, CFR co-authors an op-ed in City Limits with Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, The Bronx Defenders, and Brooklyn Defenders urging state legislators to pass legislation that informs, supports, and empowers families rather than subjecting them to cycles of harm and separation.

Executive Director Tehra Coles is named a 2025 Nonprofit Trailblazer by City & State New York.

CFR launches its updated brand identity and website redesign to support its growing team and mission.