KidsVoice Receives National Award
n Organization is First Pittsburgh Area Agency to be Awarded Skadden Fellowship
By Jennifer A. Jones, Esq.
For The Lawyers Journal
KidsVoice, the Pittsburgh-based
child advocacy organization, an-
nounced Dec. 13, 2001, that it was awarded a Skadden Foundation
Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards a United States legal service
organization can receive.
Each year, the Skadden Foundation, located in New York City, chooses among the
best law graduates and legal service organizations in the country to award 25
fellowships nationwide. The award pays for two years of an attorney's salary,
benefits, and all law school loan payments due during that two-year period.
Skadden has awarded 363 fellowships every year since 1988.
The fellowship awarded to KidsVoice was for their proposal to develop a
specialized medical advocacy program to help children in the child welfare
system with critical medical needs requiring special care. The proposal was
supported by pediatricians from local hospitals who will work with KidsVoice to
cross-train medical and legal professionals to better advocate for medically
needy children. Beth Calcaterra, a top third-year student at the University of
Michigan Law School, is the candidate sponsored by KidsVoice for the Skadden
project.
"Our decision is about the candidate, the project and the organization," said
Susan Butler Plum, director of the Skadden Foundation.
"Every year, our application process is more competitive and the proposals more
sophisticated. Beth Calcaterra is an impressive candidate who came to law
school because she wanted to help children."
"Skadden's paradigm is an apprenticeship," Plum continued. "We want to pair
these talented young attorneys with the best people in the field. Scott
Hollander and KidsVoice are gaining national recognition for developing
innovative programs likely to be replicated across the country. We expect this
Skadden project to do just that-especially with the primacy of the pediatric
medical community in Pittsburgh-which is among the best in the country."
"I'm grateful," said Calcaterra. "It's such an honor to be awarded a Skadden.
I'm really excited to come and I can't wait to meet my kids."
The award is meaningful for KidsVoice, too.
"The recognition and prestige of a Skadden Fellowship is wonderful affirmation
of our new vision and approach," said KidsVoice Executive Director Scott
Hollander.
"A medical-legal collaboration is a logical next step in our multidisciplinary
model of advocacy. We team our staff attorneys with in-house child advocacy
specialists-experts in social work, mental health, education, child
development, case management and substance abuse services-to provide
comprehensive advocacy that takes full account of each child's physical and
emotional needs."
That innovative approach attracted Calcaterra, who initially wanted to work in
New York or Washington D.C. until she visited KidsVoice after hearing about the
Pittsburgh program from Don Duquette, the director of Michigan's Child Advocacy
Law Clinic.
"I knew when I stepped into the office that this was a place where people
wanted to be," said Calcaterra. "As a former teacher, I was attracted to the
value they place on having a wide range staff in terms of experience, age and
diversity."
The Skadden Fellowship means more to Hollander than simply funding an attorney
position for two years.
"The Skadden will enhance the perception of our agency in the eyes of our staff
and community as a symbol of the respect and validation associated with
becoming the first agency in Pittsburgh area to earn the approval and respect
of a program that chooses among the best law graduates and legal service
organizations in the country. That honor will positively impact our staff
recruitment and our ability to obtain private funding from foundations and
other sources," said Hollander. n