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Sadie Davis
Director of Operations |
Gary Mitchell
Director of Litigation |
The Office of Parental
Representation
The Office of Parental Representation (OPR), a unit of the New
Jersey Office of the Public Defender, provides legal representation
to defend parents in cases of alleged neglect or abuse of a child
filed by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services
(DYFS) in Family Court. OPR attorneys also represent parents
in Family Court cases where DYFS files a complaint seeking to
terminate a parent's right to custody of or contact with a child
(called a "guardianship" or “TPR” case).
The Types
of Cases Handled by OPR
Cases of alleged neglect or abuse often start with DYFS removing
children from a parent’s care. DYFS must then
go to court to justify the removal and to obtain authority to
place the children on an emergency or temporary basis with foster
or “resource” parents.
From the beginning of the case, OPR attorneys act as advocates
for parents to promote family reunification as the goal of the
case and the earliest possible return of children to their parents,
whenever possible. Alternatively, OPR attorneys work with
parents to secure placement of a child with a relative agreeable
to the parent.
Throughout the case, OPR attorneys work both to defend parents
against the DYFS civil charges and as advocates to help parents
obtain visitation with their children, as well as counseling
and other services from state and non-governmental agencies.
These services can help provide parents with knowledge and skills,
continued contact with their children, a record of participation
in programs, and greater familiarity with available resources
to help demonstrate to the Family Court that the parents and
their children should be reunited.
If a client is faced with any related or parallel criminal proceedings
arising from the allegations of neglect or abuse, OPR attorneys
will attempt to work as closely as possible with criminal defense
counsel who represents the client.
Guardianship (or TPR) cases are commenced by DYFS after a court
makes a finding of neglect or abuse and further concludes that
a parent cannot remedy a problem contributing to the placement
of a child outside the home within the time frames mandated by
state and federal law.
OPR attorneys defend parents against these state efforts to
terminate parental rights, a proceeding that one New Jersey court
recently equated with the death penalty for a family.
The timetables which DYFS and the courts use to initiate TPR
cases under state law generally follow the requirements of the
1997 federal Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). ASFA
sped up the process by which parental rights may be terminated
in the name of achieving a permanent home for children by allowing
foster parents to adopt children more quickly if their birth
parents are unable to correct the problems that resulted in their
children being placed in foster care.
Experience since the enactment of ASFA has shown that the mandated
time periods are often unrealistic and provide insufficient time
for parents to obtain services needed to achieve reunification
with their children. As a result, in defending TPR cases,
OPR attorneys often will seek to hold DYFS accountable for any
failure to provide parents with required services and necessary
programs to enable parents to have a genuine and fair opportunity
for reunification with their children.
OPR Resources and Offices
OPR provides legal representation through both staff attorneys
and through contracted "pool" attorneys. Legal
counsel is supported by Parent Advocates and administrative staff. OPR’s
Parent Advocates assist attorneys and clients in identifying
services and programs to promote the goals of family reunification,
as well as provide traditional investigative services.
OPR also provides timely and relevant mandatory training for "pool" attorneys
who provide parental representation.
OPR's administrative and state-wide management office is located
in the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. OPR Administration
and Management can be reached as follows:
Office of Parental Representation
25 Market Street - P.O. Box 850
Trenton, New Jersey 08625
Tel: 609-341-3832
Fax: 609-341-3819
In 2005, the OPD opened six regional offices throughout New
Jersey to house approximately 50 staff attorneys. OPR’s
regional offices now directly assign the attorneys for a client.
The offices, the counties covered by each office, and how they
can be contacted, follow:
The Capital Office
(for Mercer, Burlington and Hunterdon counties):
210 South Broad St., 4th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08608
609-599-6900
609-599-6899 (fax)
The Northern Office
(for Union, Essex, Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties):
33 Washington St., 2nd Floor
Newark, NJ 07102
973-792-1820
973-792-1837
The Shore Office
(for Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties):
500 Scarborough Drive – Suite 201
Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey 08234
Tel: 609-407-5215
Fax: 609-645-6757
The Southern Office
(for Salem, Cumberland, Gloucester and Camden counties):
6 East Clementon Road - First Floor, Suite B2
Gibbsboro, New Jersey 08026
Tel: 856-346-8034
Fax: 856-346-8031
The Central Office
(for Middlesex and Monmouth counties):
2650 Route 130 - Suite A
Cranbury, New Jersey 08512
Tel: 609-655-0741
Fax: 609-655-9537
The Northwest Office
(for Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties):
2150 HQ Plaza 3rd fl.
Morristown, New Jersey 07960
Tel: 973-656-4488
Fax: 973-656-4496
OPR also is in the process of establishing an appellate section
to provide staff lawyers to handle both interlocutory and direct
appeals in DYFS cases. While OPR staff attorneys now handle
selected appeals in DYFS cases, the OPD’s Appellate Section
in Newark now assigns pool attorneys to handle the majority of
appeals in OPR cases.
OPR is under the overall direction of Deputy Public Defenders
Sadie Davis and Gary Mitchell.
Ms. Davis joined OPR in March 2003 and serves as OPR’s
Director of Operations; she previously led Public Defender criminal
trial regions in Mercer and Middlesex counties.
Mr. Mitchell joined OPR in October 2004 as Director of Litigation;
he previously was a partner in private practice with state and
national law firms, and from 1982-1990 served as Director of
the Office of Inmate Advocacy in the former Department of the
Public Advocate.
OPR’s forensic and investigative services are managed
by Cheryl Cochran, who serves as OPR’s Chief of Parent
Advocacy. Ms. Cochran, a trained clinical social worker,
moved to OPR in September 2005; she previously held leadership
roles both in the Investigation Unit of the Office of the Public
Defender and in the former Public Advocate’s Division of
Advocacy for the Developmentally Disabled.
OPR’s Appellate Program is under the direction of Deputy
Public Defender Beatrix Shear. Ms. Shear joined OPR in
July 2006 after over a decade with Legal Services of New Jersey,
where she led a statewide Family Representation Project, which
represented and advised parent defendants in DYFS cases.
