12 rural Nebraska attorneys complete child welfare, juvenile justice training program

Ten women and two men — all rural Nebraska attorneys who recently completed the College of Law's Children's Justice Attorney Education Fellowship program — pose near blossoming trees in springtime.

Twelve rural Nebraska attorneys recently completed the University of Nebraska College of Law’s Children’s Justice Attorney Education Fellowship program. The program is open to licensed attorneys practicing in Nebraska (excluding Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties).

Twelve rural Nebraska attorneys recently completed the University of Nebraska College of Law’s Children’s Justice Attorney Education Fellowship program.

The program provides participants with extensive education on state and federal child welfare and juvenile justice laws, along with insight into the subjects necessary to become strong advocates, including trauma and child development, substance use, domestic violence, complex family dynamics and specialized Indian Child Welfare Act training.

Over the course of eight months, participants attended in-person workshops and trainings and developed relationships with other juvenile justice attorneys and professionals.

The attorneys who participated, listed alphabetically by hometown with the counties they represent, are:

Broken Bow: Matthew Furrow (Custer, Sherman, Valley)
Center: Hanna Jensen (Boyd, Holt, Knox)
Cozad: Claire Bazata (Custer, Dawson, Gosper, Lincoln)
Falls City: Tracy Burns (Johnson, Otoe, Pawnee, Richardson)
Grand Island: Rene Blauhorn (Adams, Boone, Boyd, Clay, Franklin, Greeley, Hall, Hamilton, Holt, Howard, Kearney, Merrick, Nance, Nuckolls, Phelps, Platte, Polk, Webster, Wheeler, York)
Hastings: Makenzi Schnase (Adams, Clay, Hall, Kearney); Shelby Yost (Adams, Clay, Douglas, Lancaster)
Lexington: Darlene Shafer (Dawson)
North Platte: Natalie Hoffman (Frontier, Keith, Lincoln, Logan, McPherson, Perkins, Red Willow); Victoria Steffen (Dawson, Frontier, Lincoln, McPherson, Red Willow)
Ord: Christian Gosselin (Custer, Garfield, Hall, Howard, Sherman, Valley, Wheeler)

In addition to the education-based workshops, participants worked with other child welfare and juvenile justice experts to evaluate cases as they learned to integrate social and psychological factors into the legal issues arising in their cases. Attorneys also participated in a relationship-based exercise known as reflective practice. This exercise assists in mitigating the effects of emotionally intrusive work by helping individuals examine their current and past actions, emotions, experiences and responses to evaluate their performance and learn to improve.

“The attorneys who have participated in this program have an enhanced knowledge of the underlying family dynamics and circumstances that can affect children and families,” said Michelle Paxton, the program’s director. “Increasing the number of highly trained advocates to support Nebraska’s most vulnerable populations has always been one of our top priorities.”

According to data reported by participants, completion of the program has led them to spend a greater number of hours working on juvenile court cases.

“This is significant, because in its first three years, the program has trained attorneys in 69 of Nebraska’s 93 counties, 62 of which have fewer than 50 attorneys,” Paxton said.

Applications for the 2025 cohort are being accepted through Feb. 26. The program is open to licensed attorneys practicing in Nebraska (excluding Douglas, Lancaster and Sarpy counties). For more information, visit https://law.unl.edu/CJAE.