After partnering with social work students for more than 20 years at Michigan State University, MSU College of Law’s family law clinic added two important partnerships this academic year to serve more indigent families with legal needs in Ingham County.
As April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Chance at Childhood Clinic has long been advocating for children in custody and guardianship cases in partnership with the School of Social Work at MSU’s College of Social Science.
In the 22 years since it opened, the clinic has represented 380 families and children in custody, guardian cases or general family law matters.
Law professor Joseph Kozakiewicz has been the director of the clinic since its inception. He began his law career in securities law and quickly realized it was not for him. He returned to graduate school for social work.
With its two new partnerships, The Chance at Childhood Clinic will expand its reach to help two new populations needing help with family law matters, Kozakiewicz said.
“Victims of domestic violence and adolescent defendants newly involved in the juvenile court system in the Lansing area will have the benefit of working with our law students as well as social work and psychology students at MSU,” he said.
The two new partnerships include partner violence service organization, End Violent Encounters, and MSU’s Psychology Department’s Adolescent Diversion Program.
Felicity Tyll, program director of End Violent Encounters, or EVE, an organization that provides healing and supportive services to survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and stalking, said partnering with Chance at Childhood Law Clinic will help address “financial abuse,” another form of domestic violence.
“Financial abuse is an element of many abusive relationships,” said Tyll. “Abusers often maintain control of family finances. While they may have sufficient funds to pay an attorney, the abused partner does not.”
Pro bono work by MSU law students will give EVE clients invaluable access to legal services they are often denied, said Tyll, a 2019 graduate of MSU Law.
“We couldn’t be more excited and gratified to partner with the Chance at Childhood Clinic to provide student representation to survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and stalking,” she said.
The Chance at Childhood Clinic is also partnering with the MSU Psychology Department’s Adolescent Diversion Program, which aims to reduce recidivism and create positive change in youth in the juvenile court system and avoid formal criminal records.
“Teams of students from law, social work, and psychology provide holistic assessments of the needs of someone in the family court system,” said Kozakiewicz. “By working together, students from these three disciplines help each other understand the bigger picture of family dynamics, which includes child development, domestic violence and other complex social and legal issues.”
Additionally, 230 law students have worked in the clinic and completed the Child and Family Advocacy Certificate Program. The certificate program is designed to strengthen the knowledge base, practice and advocacy skills of masters-level social work students and law students.
When Gabrielle Sheets graduates from MSU Law in spring 2026, she will be fulfilling a career goal she set as a high schooler when volunteering at domestic abuse shelters with her mother.
“My mom always tried to make a difference,” Sheets said. “She wanted to lift up women and children who need extra help.”
Practicing law under Kozakiewicz at the Chance at Childhood Clinic helped solidify her desire to become a prosecutor protecting special victims of child abuse, domestic violence and sex crimes.
“So many people suffer at the hands of someone who is supposed to love them,” Sheets said. “My goal is to protect them as best as I can using the law.”