Youth Advocacy
Our Mission
For over 30 years, the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD) has worked to ensure that every child from an indigent family in Massachusetts has access to zealous legal representation.
At the heart of YAD is the Youth Development Approach, which recognizes that real justice for young people means more than a fair trial – it means supporting their legal and life success.
Whole-Person Youth Advocacy
YAD staff attorneys, the juvenile defense private panel, social workers, and support staff work together to provide comprehensive services for youth facing legal challenges. We provide legal advocacy alongside conducting needs and strengths-based assessments and facilitating active agency and community partnerships. Our goal: To guide youth through the court process and beyond.
YAD also leads, trains, and provides oversight to a diverse, collaborative juvenile defense bar across Massachusetts. We proudly take a leading role in the fight against racial and ethnic disparities in the Commonwealth’s educational and juvenile justice systems.
Our Division Units
Trial Offices
YAD’s Chief Deputy Counsel and Administration provide leadership and strategic support to nine YAD trial offices across Massachusetts. Find contact information for each office and its staff in our directory.
Private Counsel Trial Unit
Most indigent young people under the age of 18 who are charged in delinquency cases are represented by state-appointed private attorneys. CPCS has trained and certified more than 300 of these attorneys – many of whom only focus on youth defense – to ensure young clients receive excellent representation.
CPCS-certified attorneys must meet rigorous performance standards, manage limited caseloads, and complete ongoing legal education, among other requirements. In every county, Juvenile Supervising Attorneys (JSAs) offer additional oversight and support, serving as liaisons between private counsel, the courts, CPCS, and partner agencies.
Grant of Conditional Liberty (GCL) Revocation Panel
After a young person is committed to the Department of Youth Services and serves their initial time in custody, they’re released under a supervision agreement known as the Grant of Conditional Liberty (GCL) – similar to parole. If a caseworker believes a youth is not following their GCL, they may initiate a return to custody and a GCL revocation hearing.
Under the direction of the Trial Panel Director, a specialized group of attorneys provide counsel to youth facing GCL Revocation.
Juvenile Appeals Unit
We are committed to providing our young clients with outstanding appellate advocates who are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each client, understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Clients are represented either by a staff appellate attorney or private attorneys in direct appeals and screenings in delinquency, youthful offender, and juvenile murder cases.
If you are requesting an attorney to review a closed delinquency or youthful offender adjudication, murder conviction, or your sentence, please see below.
If you have a question or concern about your case, please contact Afton Templin, Director of Juvenile Appeals.
If you wish to file a complaint against your assigned screening or appellate counsel, please click here.
If you are a trial attorney and would like an appellate attorney assigned in the direct appeal of your case, please click here.
For information on How to Apply to YAD Juvenile Appeals Panel, please click here.
Direct Appeals
A direct appeal is a review by an appellate court of the trial court proceedings to determine whether the proceedings were lawful. Typically, direct appeals are from final judgments after a trial, conditional plea or a motion for new trial, but clients can seek “interlocutory review” of a trial court’s order in limited circumstances.
Any youth who was adjudicated delinquent or as a youthful offender, or convicted of murder or manslaughter, has the right to a direct appeal from a final judgment in Massachusetts. Because youth are indigent as a matter of law, the youth does not have to pay the expenses of the appeal, such as the transcript (the verbatim account of in-court proceedings), and is entitled to the appointment of counsel for the appeal at no cost.
An appeal argues that one or more errors occurred in the trial process. If these mistakes are serious enough, the appellate court will “remand,” or send the case back to the trial court, usually for a retrial. The appellate court does not hear new or additional evidence and does not decide guilt or innocence. Rather, the question the appellate court decides is whether the errors affected the outcome.
Attorneys representing youth on direct appeal meet with clients, review case files, write appellate briefs and argue cases before the Appeals Court or the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
Screenings
Unlike a direct appeal, there is no automatic right to counsel to file post-trial motions in cases where the individual pled or where the direct appeal is over. But because the laws and procedures for juvenile cases are constantly evolving, YAD Appeals appoints “screening counsel” to investigate the facts and law to determine if the client would benefit from the assistance of counsel in litigating a post-trial motion.
The screening counsel’s role is limited to conducting an investigation. Screening counsel cannot represent the client in court unless YAD authorizes counsel to pursue a collateral attack of the adjudication, conviction or sentence.
Certain aspects of the attorney-client relationship exist between screening counsel and the client, such as confidentiality. However, screening counsel is not the client’s lawyer in the traditional sense, but is more akin to a legal and factual investigator. Once screening counsel has assessed the factual issues, counsel must apply the law and contemplate possible avenues of relief for the client. As a lawyer, screening counsel is bound by ethical constraints not to advance a frivolous claim.
Once the factual and legal investigation is complete, screening counsel drafts a screening report and submits it to YAD’s Juvenile Appeals Unit. YAD Appeals will then screen the case “in” or “out.” If screened “out,” YAD Appeals will notify the client of the decision, ending the screening process and the screening counsel-client relationship. If screened “in,” YAD Appeals will then authorize counsel to pursue a collateral attack of the adjudication, conviction or sentence.
Recently the Supreme Judicial Court, in Commonwealth v. Francis, 485 Mass. 86 (2020), held that if CPCS screens a case but declines to appoint counsel, any meritorious issue with legal precedent that was not raised during the screening process might later be waived. This decision may adversely impact indigent people who chose to file pro se motions. As such, if you or your loved one has a case you would like to have reviewed, please complete the YAD Screening Inquiry Form and email it to yadappeals@publiccounsel.net.
EdLaw Project
We advance education advocacy by addressing one of the root causes of the school-to-prison pipeline: children being pushed out of or failing in school.
We work to ensure the most vulnerable court-involved children – predominantly children of color from low-income families and often with disabilities – have equitable access to a quality education. We provide legal representation in cases involving school discipline, academic failure, and unmet special education needs, and we offer trainings and support to court-appointed attorneys.
For advice on an education matter, call our HelpLine at (617) 910-5829 or fill out our intake form.
Resources for Clients
Explore dedicated resources for court-involved youth and their families.
Resources for Attorneys
CPCS provides materials to assist youth defense attorneys, including practice guides, legal outlines, and sample motions in our Resource Center.