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In my role as the Truancy Court Program (TCP) Attorney for the University of Baltimore School of Law Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts, I typically ask students if they know what "advocate" means. Answers can range from "someone who fights for you," to "someone who helps people," to blank stares. My favorite answer is "someone who works for change." The TCP works with students in Baltimore City Public Schools who have missed between five and 30 days of school in the previous semester, providing wrap-around supports and weekly monitoring to uncover and address the root causes of their truancy. The students and families participating in the TCP need to change something in their lives. At the very least, they need to alter their school attendance. While that may seem to require relatively modest modifications, more often than not, a student's truant behavior is the result of complicated and deep-seated issues that call for a powerful intervention.
 The TCP team, consisting of a TCP Mentor, TCP Social Worker, TCP Attorney, TCP Coordinator, and volunteer TCP Judge has noticed that an increasing number of students and families suffer from problems such as unstable housing, homelessness, unemployment, excessive stress, and/or addiction. Many students have witnessed violence in their homes or community, suffer from trauma, must endure long commutes to attend underfunded and understaffed schools, and/or routinely are denied basic educational services. In short, they suffer the effects of poverty and attending schools in impoverished neighborhoods.
What can the TCP do about such deep-seated problems? While it cannot pull a family out of poverty, it can advocate on their behalf so that they have access to services to which they are legally entitled. I help ensure that schools comply with federal laws, including the McKinney-Vento Act (mandating services for students experiencing homelessness) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (mandating certain services for students with disabilities). I also assist families who face illegal evictions or improper denials of public benefits, and I guide students through the unwieldy school choice process, which allows Baltimore City Public School students to select their middle and high school, rather than attend a neighborhood school.
As an advocate who "works for change," I am concerned about what happens after the TCP session ends, and the next crisis arises. Many of our families are one utility bill away from eviction or one late submission away from being assigned to a high school for which they are poorly suited - - either of these situations, among many others, can lead to increased truancy. To address these future problems, I must turn the students and families with whom I work into effective self-advocates. The most significant self-advocacy tool is knowledge. Students and families cannot advocate for rights that they do not know they have, and they can advocate more forcefully and effectively if they have the knowledge and confidence to speak up for themselves.
I often ask students how much they were charged to enter the school building that morning. I use this question to point out that Maryland law requires a "free and appropriate education" for every child. I emphasize that each student has a right to that education regardless of their family circumstances, their neighborhood, or their academic abilities. We discuss what it means to have a "free and appropriate education" and what they can do to protect that right. Throughout the TCP session, we talk about their rights regarding suspensions and expulsions, special education, and uniform requirements. We also talk about laws that mandate transportation for students experiencing homelessness and home-based instruction for students with chronic illnesses. While I feel successful when I help to solve a student's or family's legal problem, I feel most gratified when I hear from a teacher that a student herself has reminded the teacher of the supports required by her Individualized Education Program. By instilling this type of self-advocacy, self-confidence, and empowerment, we as advocates can effect real and lasting change.
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