Juvenile Law Center provided an amicus brief to the Washington Supreme Court in the case of Bellevue School District v. E.S. supporting the Washington Court of Appeals ruling below that a student has the due process right to counsel at the initial hearing of a truancy proceeding under juvenile court jurisdiction.

Juvenile Law Center’s amicus offers a national perspective and highlights the prevailing trend among states to secure counsel for children in truancy proceedings, and argues that the complex sociological causes of truancy, as well as the potential collateral consequences of an adjudication, require representation by counsel in truancy proceedings.