NCYL Attorneys Bill Grimm and Bryn Martyna Honored for Work on Behalf of Washington State Foster Children
For more information contact: Bryn Leland Martyna Skadden Fellow (510) 835-8098, x3036
Bill Grimm Senior Attorney, NCYL (510) 835-8098, x3016
National Center for Youth Law Senior Attorney Bill Grimm and Skadden Fellow Bryn Leland Martyna have been awarded the Voices for Children Award by the Children's Alliance, a statewide children's advocacy organization in Washington state. Grimm, Martyna and their co-counsel in the landmark Braam v. State of Washington are being honored for their work on the case, a class-action lawsuit filed by NCYL and other child advocacy attorneys to improve the state's foster care system. Their efforts have led to a legally binding blueprint for improving the lives of thousands of foster children. The blueprint outlines plans for improving the safety and stability of foster children, providing mental health screening and treatment, and supporting foster parents with training and other services, among other improvements. The other Braam attorneys who will be honored are Tim Farris of Brett & Daugert in Bellingham, WA, and John Midgley and Casey Trupin of Columbia Legal Services. Grimm has been an attorney at NCYL for the past 18 years, focusing exclusively on improving the lives of foster children in states throughout the country. Martyna, a 2005 graduate of Stanford Law School, is in her first year of a two-year Skadden fellowship at NCYL, working on the implementation of the Braam settlement.
The awards will be presented 11 a.m., June 1 at the Children's Alliance awards luncheon at Qwest Field in downtown Seattle. Linda Ellerbee, journalist, television producer, and best-selling author, will be the featured speaker.
The Braam team will receive one of five Voices for Children Awards. The other recipients are Bob Watt, Vice President of Government and Community Relations for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, for furthering greater public and private sector support for early childhood education; Norma Gallegos, the parent involvement coordinator at the Chelan Douglas Child Services Association in Wenatchee, WA, for helping parents in the local Head Start program better advocate for themselves and their children; Jim Theofelis, Founder and Executive Director of the Mockingbird Society, for advocating on behalf of homeless and foster youth; and Marilee Roloff, Executive Director of Volunteers of America Spokane, for decades of service to at-risk youth.
