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Alumna of Note: Elizabeth Jones

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Elizabeth Jones portrait by Ryan Donnell

Published in the Spring 2019 issue of Westwind Magazine

Most people spend their lives trying to steer clear of bankruptcy, but Elizabeth Jones’ warm embrace of the subject propelled her into a career she perhaps only dreamed of a decade ago. Now a Supreme Court fellow in Washington, D.C., she reflects on how she developed a passion for bankruptcy law and details how she hopes to help debtors moving forward.

Jones began making career plans even before she stepped foot in a college classroom: She wanted to be a lawyer, and she’d spend her
undergrad years at Walla Walla University gearing up for law school.

“I was pretty sure I wanted to do business for my major,” she says, noting that she’s always appreciated numbers, “but I kind of knew that for law I would need something else in order to feel a little more prepared.” She tacked an English minor onto her degree and joined the Honors Program to help round out her education.

Preparing for law school isn’t all about acquiring textbook knowledge, though; it’s about learning to hold firm under pressure.

“I knew I needed to push myself in other ways,” she says, “so I did that by doubling up on some classes and getting involved in other things outside of the curriculum,” such as ASWWU Senate, The Collegian, and the softball team. Despite the extra responsibilities, she finished all her coursework within three years to make up for time spent abroad in Thailand.

With a bachelor’s degree under her belt and unwavering plans for her career, Jones said farewell to the west in 2013 and headed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to attend the University of Michigan Law School, ranked No. 8 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

“Going in, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Jones recalls,
“and that was pretty intentional because I wanted to be open to the
possibility of falling in love with a certain type of practice.”

At one point she considered transactional corporate law; at
another, she was leaning toward litigation. When Jones got a taste
of bankruptcy law—a middle ground between the two—she realized
she’d found her niche.

Bankruptcy law might sound dull on the surface, but Jones argues that it’s far from black and white. “You really get the opportunity to reinvent the wheel in every case that you get,” she says. Though most bankruptcy cases fall within the same parameters, lawyers are forced to find creative solutions for each debtor.

Jones completed her law degree in 2017 and continued her journey east to clerk for a bankruptcy judge in New York City. During her clerkship, she heard about the Supreme Court Fellows Program
and decided to apply.

The program selects four individuals each year to work in one of four federal judiciary agencies, giving them practical experience and providing a path for them to conduct research on a specific topic. Jones proposed a bankruptcy-related research project in her application, and the unique pitch—coupled with her obvious zeal for the subject—earned her a placement at the Federal Judicial Center in the 2018–19 cohort. In August, she made the move to D.C. to begin work.

While one could argue that Jones has already accomplished plenty for someone less than two years out of law school, her motivation has yet to peak. She plans to do clinical teaching down the road, supervising law students as they represent real bankruptcy clients.

“There’s a very big subset of people that are trying to navigate this process on their own, which is very complicated and difficult,” she says. Running a clinic will allow Jones to mentor students and provide more representation for debtors who can’t afford attorneys. She will conclude her fellowship in August and move back to New York City, where she’s accepted a position at a law firm to continue working toward this goal.

For Jones, the next step seems to always be within reach. Maybe it speaks to her innate drive for success, or maybe it’s a result of finding what she loves. In either case, it’s clear that she’s not slowing down any time soon.

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Panic button catch-up

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Published in the Sacramento News & Review and on newsreview.com on December 20, 2018

The Me Too movement shed light on pervasive misconduct in America, but hotel employees continue to face harassment and assault at alarming rates. The city of Sacramento just took a step toward changing that.

On December 11, the City Council’s Law and Legislative Committee considered additional safety measures for hotel workers. The most notable proposal would require hotels to provide employees with panic buttons: portable emergency contact devices that immediately summon help.

Consuelo Hernandez, Sacramento’s director of government affairs, suggested that hotel operators also be required to establish and distribute written sexual harassment policies.

Councilman Eric Guerra noted it was time for the city to catch up to Sacramento County on the worker safety front. The county passed its own panic button policy in February. “It makes no sense if you cross Stockton Boulevard, or if you cross one of these areas, and you have one ordinance and then another ordinance,” Guerra said.

The push to bring added safeguards to city hotels was fueled by conversations with members of the Unite Here labor union and the Sacramento Hotel Association. Shelly Moranville, incoming president of the hotel association and vice chairwoman of Visit Sacramento, told the committee her industry is supportive of the panic button proposal, but added local operators don’t want to be mandated to blacklist guests who violate the hotels’ policies. She said hotels also don’t want to be required to conduct additional sexual harassment training.

California has seen at least two notable panic button proposals face rejection—in the city of Long Beach and at the state level. In both cases, additional provisions were tacked on and deemed too costly by critics. Hernandez is working to see that Sacramento’s proposal meets a different fate.

“I anticipate working with stakeholders, trying to address any concerns that they may have,” she said, “and to develop a meaningful program that would benefit both workers and the hotel and motel owners.”

The Law and Legislative Committee advanced the proposal to the full City Council as staff continues to work on it.

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The Aderholt Amendment: A Dangerous Step Backward

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Published on the Lilliput Families blog on August 22, 2018

On July 11, Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) proposed a controversial amendment to the 2019 spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The measure, which got initial approval from the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, would allow discriminatory child welfare agencies to receive federal funding.

Currently, federal law says that government-funded adoption agencies are not allowed to deny service to anyone for religious or moral reasons. The Robert Aderholt Amendment makes room for more faith-based discrimination in the child welfare system by letting organizations pick and choose who they serve without forfeiting government aid.

Opponents fear that this will undo the progress that the LGBTQ community has made toward securing the right to adopt, and encourage further discrimination against anyone who doesn’t fit a “traditional parent” mold.

Aderholt, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, pitched his amendment as something of an all-hands-on-deck approach to getting children out of foster care. “We need more support for these families and children in crisis,” he wrote in a press release, “not less.”

What the representative failed to note is that more agencies won’t necessarily lead to more homes for foster children. Rather than widening the pool of potential adoptive parents, the Aderholt Amendment would create more competition for non-discriminatory agencies. This could reduce the number of available homes by limiting the options for LGBTQ people, single people and unmarried couples.

The same groups that are subject to discrimination are the ones that give the child welfare system hope of solving the foster care crisis. A fact sheet on the American Civil Liberties Union website points out that married, opposite-sex couples cannot accommodate the entire population of children that lack homes. “There simply are not enough married mothers and fathers who are interested in adoption and foster care,” it reads. “Last year only 20,000 of the 100,000 foster children in need of adoption were adopted, including children adopted by single people as well as married couples.”

“Faith and Freedom” is listed on Aderholt’s government webpage as part of his political platform. He quotes a portion of the First Amendment that reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Aderholt claims that the government intrudes upon people who exercise religious freedom, but one could just as easily claim that when it comes to child welfare, the government has been playing it neutral. The law doesn’t prohibit faith-based adoption agencies from finding homes for children, it simply declines to spend taxpayer dollars on agencies that are unwilling to serve all taxpayers.

Though the Aderholt Amendment was approved by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, the spending bill that it’s tacked on to has yet to receive final approval in Congress. If the amendment is implemented, the Department of Health and Human Services would be required to start withholding 15 percent of child welfare funds from any state or local government that shows bias toward secular agencies.

Several politicians and advocacy groups have taken to social media to speak out against the narrow-sighted proposal, using the hashtag #LicenseToDiscriminate—a reference to the similar “license to discriminate” laws that a handful of states have already enacted.

To learn more about how you can prevent the Aderholt Amendment from becoming law, visit the Every Child Deserves a Family website at https://goo.gl/5NLJ1k.

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What Is a Resource Family?

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Published on the Lilliput Families blog on August 8, 2018

Following the approval of a state Assembly bill in 2015, California’s child welfare system began to embrace a host of new policies and terms in the foster care arena. Among the many changes brought about by AB 403, the Resource Family Approval program has stood out as a point of confusion for many. While talk of resource families and RFA requirements sounds daunting at first, the concept behind the new legislation is not so complex.

Foster parents and foster families still exist in California, but they go by a new name: “resource families.”

Put simply, a resource family is any individual, couple or family that has been approved to take children into their care. Whether someone is looking to adopt, foster or temporarily open their home to a child, they will first need to become a resource family by way of the RFA process.

In order to receive a resource family designation, each applicant must pass a home inspection, background check, and family evaluation. Resource families also receive mandatory training that prepares them to create safe and nurturing home environments.

Prior to AB 403, different types of caregivers received different levels of training and support. The RFA program provides a statewide standard of approval for all caregivers—short-term or long-term, relatives or non-relatives—to ensure that each is equally equipped to meet the needs of a child who has been displaced. Under the new system, people fostering children can become adoptive parents without undergoing an additional home study.

The push for a uniform approval process comes on the heels of a statewide effort to establish stability in the lives of foster youth. Lawmakers agreed that children deserve to grow up in a family setting, and the new legislation calls for less reliance on group home care and more effort toward placing youth with resource families. This will not only put foster youth on a more promising path to permanency, but get them adequate support to realize their full potential. In situations where children are not ready to live with a family, group care facilities may still be appropriate options for short-term treatment.

With an increase of children coming into foster care, the need for carefully trained families is at a high. Whereas old family approval processes could take several months, the RFA program aims to complete assessments within 90 days. Currently, one of the greatest challenges with the RFA program is assisting families through the approval process within the 90-day window, but as agencies adapt to new procedures, the vetting and training process is becoming more streamlined.

Lilliput Families has been at the forefront of the RFA program since its early conception. In 2016, Lilliput was one of five private agencies—known as “early implementers”—selected by the state to test the program prior to widespread implementation. Lilliput has also been a leading resource for relatives going through the RFA process. If you would like more information about becoming a resource family, reach out to one of Lilliput’s experts, Angie Nevin, at anevin@lilliput.org.

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State Senate Internship

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Social work major interns for Washington state senator.
The 2018 Washington state House and Senate interns convene for a Mock Floor Debate. February 26, 2018.
Published on Walla Walla University’s digital newsfeed on March 15, 2018, and in the Summer 2018 issue of Westwind Magazine

Allison Banks speaks on the Washington state House floor during a mock floor debate.
Allison Banks speaks on the Washington state House floor during a mock floor debate.

What do you get when you cross social work and senate? Ask Allison Banks, a senior social work major who spent winter quarter in Olympia, Washington, interning for Sen. Rebecca Saldaña. Banks, who was senate parliamentarian last year for the Associated Students of Walla Walla University, is one of about 70 students from across the state that were admitted to the State of Washington Legislative Internship Program this year. The annual program allows ambitious college students to assist legislators and learn about lawmaking for the duration of the legislative session.

In a sea of political science majors, Banks was the only intern majoring in social work. “I viewed my major as a weakness going into this,” Banks said. “When you look around and you’re the minority major, it’s difficult not to think ‘This program was designed for a different group of students.’” Despite some initial doubts, Banks quickly learned that she was right where she belonged.

On her first day of work, Banks looked through the bills that Saldaña was sponsoring. The first bill she saw called for increased healthcare benefits for Washington residents from the Marshall Islands, the Federation of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. Banks served as a student missionary in Palau three years ago, and two of her former students now live in Washington state, making this a very personal topic. “I had this moment where I just froze. … I thought, ‘There’s no way that I’m coming into this new office and the first thing I read is about Palau,’” Banks recalled. “How is it possible that I got matched with the one senator who prime sponsored a healthcare bill to protect Palauans?”

Banks (left) on the Washington state Senate floor beside Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, who she interned for during the state's 2018 legislative session.
Banks (left) on the Washington state Senate floor beside Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, who she interned for during the state’s 2018 legislative session.

Settling in and standing out

In the weeks that followed, Banks made Saldaña’s office her home. Most days involved answering emails and phone calls, but, she added, “the flow of that can vary widely.” A day at a senator’s office might start out slow, but if a bill drops and constituents have questions, the staff goes into overdrive to do research and give informed responses. “You’ll come into work and you have no idea what you’re going to be an expert on by the end of the day.”

Aside from the daily office work, Banks sometimes paged on the Senate floor, allowing her to witness lawmaking up close. She was impressed by the passion of the state senators and noted that they restored her hope in government.

Throughout the term, Banks and the other interns also attended seminars and participated in mock committee and floor-debate exercises. The committee and floor-debate simulations offered each intern the chance to role-play and walk through the full, bipartisan legislative process. Everything that legislators do for real, the interns did for fake, Banks noted. But fake as it may have been, the issues discussed were serious. The interns did their part to come to each meeting prepared—especially Banks, who was elected co-chair for the Democratic Party caucus. In that role, Banks worked for more than two weeks to keep up the morale of about 40 peers as they debated on the Washington state House floor.

During the caucus exercise, Banks used her social work knowledge to analyze bills in a way that other students couldn’t. One of the most dense bills that the caucus debated dealt with issues regarding juvenile justice. “Even having minimal experience discussing topics like recidivism and reentry … made me one of the most informed people in the room,” Banks said. “Social work provided additional context when dealing with these issues, and my unique perspective made me better equipped to lead in conversations and problem-solving.”

Prior to the internship, Banks planned to take some time off after graduation to prepare for law school. Now that she’s seen the link between social work and lawmaking up close, she wants to pursue a master’s in social work first. Banks encourages other WWU students to take a risk and apply for the same internship next year. “It’s reaffirmed my passion and commitment to the social work field,” she said, “as well as motivated me further to go to law school with the goal of returning to policy reform.”

Looking at a career, Banks likes the prospect of bringing social work and law together in a policy counsel position, helping legislators make informed policy decisions related to the human services field. Nothing is set in stone though, and when it comes down to it, she just wants to be a part of the lawmaking process. “There’s so much to work on.”

This series highlights the internships of three Walla Walla University social work majors during the 2017-18 academic year. (Part one of three.)