Join us in celebrating our June Amicus Mundi recipient, Catherine Kelleher
We The Action Volunteer,
Every month, we give the Amicus Mundi Award to an outstanding lawyer in our community who exemplifies our shared values of service and commitment to justice and equity.
With Father’s Day right around the corner, this month’s Amicus Mundi Award goes to a lawyer who has gone above and beyond to support dads as they navigate mental and legal challenges to be better fathers to their children.
** Congratulations, Catherine Kelleher!
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The big picture: A lawyer from Massachusetts with 17 years experience, Catherine volunteers with Fathers' UpLift to help fathers navigate a variety of challenges – mental health, incarceration, or other legal obstacles, for instance — as they try to fulfill or regain their responsibilities as fathers.
* Over the past year, Catherine has worked one-on-one with fathers to offer legal advice, given presentations on how to prepare for family court, and prepare their testimony to regain their parenting rights.
* “If you don’t have the resources to have someone advocating for you, the system is really stacked against a lot of people,” Catherine says. “It’s really rewarding to make a difference in my community.”
A different kind of satisfaction: While her job is professionally and intellectually rewarding, she gets a different kind of satisfaction from volunteering.
* Catherine says she particularly remembers working with fathers returning from incarceration and building a workbook with resources to help fathers address the most common legal obstacles they may face.
* “Returning citizens already have so much to overcome, but there is very little legal guidance for them,” Catherine says. “I realized right away that it’s often very, very unclear what these dads should be doing [to regain their responsibilities as fathers.]”
Overcoming barriers: Leonard Tshitenge, Director of Coaching & Family Interventions for Fathers' UpLift says that many of the fathers they serve — who are largely low income and men of color — struggle to understand their parental rights and navigate the court system.
* “We support fathers and work with them to overcome barriers so they can engage in their children’s life,” Leonard says. “The more that dads are prepared to engage with courts, the more it helps.”
“Our insider resources for dads”: Fathers' UpLift serves a wide variety of mental health needs for fathers and says navigating legal issues can be particularly stressful for their clients, but Catherine’s empathy and mindfulness makes her an outstanding advocate for them.
* “We don’t want to overlook the fact that interacting with the court is a huge mental stressor,” Leonard says. “I’m glad there’s an attorney who understands the mental health aspect of this work. Catherine is our insider resource to support our dads.”
Call to Action: Catherine says she originally signed up to help Fathers' UpLiftbecause it was a small time commitment and she believed in the mission, but it soon grew into a passion project for her.
* “I don’t practice family law,” she says. “I’m not volunteering in my specialty, but I’m willing to learn it. As long as you have the skills you learned in law school, you can figure it out.”
Want to join Catherine and volunteer with Fathers' UpLift? Click here to sign up! ([link removed])
** On behalf of 42,000+ volunteer lawyers: Thank you, Catherine!
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The We The Action Team
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