Jen joined the LSC team in June 2016, bringing 20 years of experience working with youth in various capacities. She began her career in 1997 as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) working with abused and neglected children, and she spent several years working as a counselor at Thunder Road Adolescent Drug Treatment Center in Oakland before attending law school at Northeastern University School of Law, where she focused on juvenile justice issues. For the nine years prior to joining the LSC team, Jen had a private law practice representing both parents and children in the San Francisco Dependency Court. As the dependency project lead at LSC, Jen’s work is centered on both direct representation of children in abuse and neglect cases and advocating for broader policy change on behalf of foster youth by working with government agencies, CBOs, and policy advocates to elevate youth voice and assure system accountability. She is a former Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco Child Advocacy Law Clinic and currently teaches the Child Welfare Law Clinic at UC Law SF. Jen has received the Modern Day Abolitionist Award from the San Francisco Collaborative on Human Trafficking, and she has been honored by the San Francisco Foster Youth Fund and San Francisco Unified School District for her work with foster youth.
