Advocates for Children of New York (AFC)

CASE ADVOCACY AND PARENT TRAINING- AFC offers a full range of free individual case advocacy and legal assistance to help young people obtain appropriate educational services. In addition, AFC provides training programs to assist and enable New York City parents and young people to negotiate the Department of Education's bureaucracy and receive the educational support they need to succeed. Training also is provided to school districts, child welfare offices, and other professionals to prepare them to advocate for the education-related needs of the children they serve.

IMPACT LITIGATION- AFC litigates class action lawsuits and other cases to effectuate systemic reforms of the public school system. The resulting information gathered also assists AFC in monitoring the Department of Education's compliance with the law, which results in the development and implementation of policy that will prevent the same problems from recurring for other children.

PUBLIC POLICY AND RESEARCH- AFC advocates for changes to policy that will improve education for the children we serve. Activities in this program include monitoring the implementation and effects of current policies, producing policy reports, and working collaboratively with other organizations and individuals that share AFC's goals.