Mark Hardin, National Child Welfare Law Authority, Retires
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 13, 2009 — The American Bar Association is announcing the retirement of Mark Hardin, director of child welfare at the ABA Center on Children and the Law and an Oregon attorney. A legal pioneer in the field of foster care and the role of the courts in aiding abused and neglected children and their families, Hardin spent 35 years utilizing his legal skills and knowledge to improve the plight of children removed from their homes due to child maltreatment.
Beginning as a legal aid lawyer in Portland, Ore., Hardin handled family, juvenile and welfare cases, giving him practical insight into the lives of vulnerable children and families. In the late 70’s, during two years at Portland State University, Hardin forged development of the law on “permanency planning” for abused and neglected children and wrote several early publications helping social workers and policy analysts understand the legal aspects of a child’s placement in foster care. He was among the country’s first trainers of lawyers and child welfare agency staff, educating them in their legal responsibilities relative to children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
Hardin joined the Center on Children and the Law in 1980 where, according to ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm, he became “the country’s foremost legal scholar on foster care legal and judicial reforms.”
Hardin’s experience includes having directed the ABA’s National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues, a program of the Children’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. His 1983 book, Foster Children in the Courts, was considered a landmark publication, providing seminal expertise for lawyers, judges and other child welfare professionals. It was among the first of dozens of books, book chapters, articles and U.S. Supreme Court amicus curiae briefs on child welfare law that Hardin wrote during more than three decades at the ABA. In addition, Hardin has held a child welfare law teaching position at Howard University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C.
Among his many honors, Hardin was bestowed with the Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award, presented by the National Association of Counsel for Children and the Adoption Excellence Award presented by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, for his child welfare court improvement work — most notably his development of federal legislation to support state judicial system enhancement of the handling of child abuse and neglect cases.
“Not only was Mark recognized as our leading authority on child welfare law reform, but his influence on child welfare lawyers and judges, in my opinion, has been greater than any other attorney,” said Howard Davidson, director of the ABA Center on Children and the Law. Hardin’s collaboration with other organizations included extensive support to the Child Welfare League of America and providing significant material to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ 1995 Resource Guidelines on Improving Court Practice in Child Abuse & Neglect Cases.
During his tenure at the ABA, Mark helped several states develop progressive and sweeping foster care reform legislation. His most recent projects included development of Principles and Standards for Judicial Excellence in Child Abuse and Neglect Proceedings and a five-volume set of books titled Court Performance Measures in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases.
“Mark’s 30 years at the ABA,” said Henry F. White, Jr., American Bar Association executive director, “serve as an exemplary model of quality public service-related law work that our association strives to achieve. While the association and its staff will miss him on a day-to-day basis, Mark’s work on behalf of abused and neglected children will continue to make an impact on lives for years to come.”
With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.
- 30 -
