When the whole family is involved, it can make all the difference.

 

In this episode, Hunter speaks with three inspiring individuals out of Family Representation New York—Parent Advocate Supervisor Teyora Graves-Ferrell, Social Work Supervisor Ysmerlyn Murshed, and Senior Staff Attorney Vasili Stotis.

 

Each one plays a very specific and important role within their organization, and they explain how they work together to make a positive difference for families in their own ways. Through this, you’ll see that specialization can be a strong superpower for everyone involved in public defense.

 

Then, they’ll give you a sneak peek into what public defense is like in New York and the unique challenges it brings. Through the city funding many of Family Representation New York’s programs, they are making an investment into the long-term healing of families and the system as a whole.

 

This is a model that many of the smaller public defense offices are moving towards, and hopefully, with time more of the bigger offices can get the resources they need to put this in place. But for right now, New York serves as the perfect example of how investing in families benefits everyone.

 

Key Topics/Takeaways:

• Teyora, Ysmerlyn, & Vasili share their backgrounds. [4:26]
• What their office does and the roles they fill. [7:09]
• Why specialization works so well. [11:41]
• Client reactions to their structure. [16:43]
• How being in New York City affects their work. [23:58]
• Why early intervention is so important. [34:04]
• Funding. [37:56]
• Ways they create a space for people to be heard. [45:34]
• How civil courtroom and civil proceedings are used against families. [50:24]
• What they hope to see in the future. [52:58]

 

Guests:

Teyora Graves-Ferrell, Parent Advocate Supervisor

Ysmerlyn Murshed, Social Work Supervisor

Vasili Stotis, Senior Staff Attorney

 

Resources:

Center for Family Representation New York 

Just Making a Change for Families 

Is N.Y.'s Child Weldfare System Racist? Some of its own workers say yes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/nyregion/nyc-acs-racism-abuse-neglect.html

 

 

Memorable Quotes:

“I do this work because at one point in my life, I was a part of this work.” (5:57, Teyora)

 

“Public defense and everything around criminal defense or civil defense and all these things representing people is teamwork. It's a team effort. And when you don't have that team, it doesn't work well.” (6:58, Hunter)

 

“Sometimes we are the first people to listen to our clients' stories without judgment, without blaming or shaming them. So I definitely think that makes a big impact and a big difference on how we are showing up.” (19:52, Teyora)

 

“A lot of the systems in place are racist systems and that can be difficult to express in a courtroom. People don't want to hear that. And even though the systems themselves are built off of these racist policies a lot of judges and a lot of prosecutors don't want to deal with that.” (32:09, Vasili)

 

“Anyone can be impacted. We've represented case workers, we've represented doctors, nurses, parole officers. In some ways, while the system can target certain communities, it doesn't discriminate.” (Ysmerlyn, 53:52)

 

Contact Hunter Parnell:

[email protected]

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www.publicdefenseless.com