Legal Advocacy & Impact Litigation

We work strategically and collaboratively with co-counsel partners, community organizations, and named plaintiffs to bring impact litigation that represents broad classes of children and youth across multiple public systems.

Browse Legal Cases

Focus AreaCase Jurisdiction
StatusCase TypeLocation

T.R. v. Dreyfus

Filing Date2009-11-24
NCYL is co-counsel in the case of T.R. v. Dreyfus, a child welfare reform class action lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).
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D.P. v. School Board of Palm Beach County

Filing Date2021-06-22
Police employed by the School District of Palm Beach County illegally use the Florida Mental Health Act, also known as the Baker Act, to subject hundreds of students each year to involuntary psychiatric examinations, without their parents' input, consent and, sometimes, over their objections.
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Jessica K. v. Eureka City School District

Filing Date2013-12-18
NCYL brought this case on behalf of four students to challenge years of intentional discrimination by the District based on their race, sex, and disability status. The District has perpetuated a racially and sexually hostile environment in District schools, and has failed to properly evaluate, identify, and accommodate students with disabilities, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, and federal and state civil rights laws.
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M.B. v. Tidball

Filing Date2017-07-03
Every day, the approximately 13,000 children in the foster care custody of the state of Missouri are exposed to an unreasonable risk of serious physical and psychological harm because the state fails to maintain an adequate oversight system to ensure that psychotropic drugs are administered safely and only when necessary.
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SurvJustice v. DeVos

Filing Date2018-01-25
This lawsuit was filed on behalf of SurvJustice, Equal Rights Advocates, and Victim Rights Law Center, three national public interest organizations, to stop U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Trump Administration's Title IX policy.
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Dallas County Truancy Court

Filing Date2013-06-10
This civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice on June 12, 2013, concerns a particularly harmful aspect of the school-to-prison pipeline in Texas - the use of criminal courts to prosecute youth for truancy, and the way that school district's violations of students' civil and educational rights directly contribute to this problem.
Inactive
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Henry A. v. Willden

Filing Date2010-04-14
This lawsuit charges Nevada and Clark County officials with failing to protect the health and safety of children in foster care. The suit seeks money damages for 13 children named in the lawsuit, as well as system improvements for several classes of children that represent more than half of the 3,600 children in foster care in Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas.
Inactive
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Texas Education Agency Administrative Complaint

Filing Date2015-05-27
This complaint concerns the unlawful practice of thirteen Texas school districts forcing their most vulnerable students out of school through court procedures for truancy.
Inactive
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Women’s Student Union v. U.S. Department of Education

Filing Date2021-03-08
The Women's Student Union (WSU) at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, California filed a legal challenge to Trump-era Department of Education regulations that put students nationwide in greater danger and represent a radical departure from the way previous Democratic and Republican administrations applied Title IX to school sexual harassment, including sexual assault.
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Browse Resources

Focus AreaAudience
Location
Providing Mental Health Education to Students is Critical — and Achievable

Providing Mental Health Education to Students is Critical — and Achievable

Since the 2021 enactment of California's Senate Bill 224, public middle and high schools that offer health courses are required to include mental health instruction within those courses. The law additionally called on the state to develop plans to expand this instruction to schools across the state.
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Los Angeles County Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Address Child Trafficking

Los Angeles County Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Address Child Trafficking

The Los Angeles County Five-Year Strategic Plan to Prevent and Address Child Trafficking is a bold and ambitious proposal that is meant to serve as a guide-post for the county — the most populous in the U.S. — to confront the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSEC/Y).
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Meeting the Moment: A Guide to Defending Civil Rights in Our Schools

Meeting the Moment: A Guide to Defending Civil Rights in Our Schools

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Interview Survey of Adolescents in Foster Care in Los Angeles County Regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health Communication and Access to Resources

Interview Survey of Adolescents in Foster Care in Los Angeles County Regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health Communication and Access to Resources

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Minor Consent for Mental Health Care — Implementing Assembly Bill 665

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Educational Advocacy for Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in California

Educational Advocacy for Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in California

Access to a meaningful education is a fundamental right that promotes upward mobility across generations. 
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FAQ: Using the Caregiver Affidavit as a Non-Relative or Relative “Sponsor” of Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth

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