Along with Lawyers For Children and the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, SLLRU served as organizational plaintiffs successfully challenging unauthorized “Host Homes” regulations enacted by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services that would have created a shadow foster care system, depriving children of court oversight, legal representation and services. Proskauer Rose LLP served as pro bono counsel, winning a unanimous decision from the NYS Court of Appeals.

SLLRU and Legislative Working Group members drafted The Safe Landings Act and successfully advocated for its passage. This law provides a means for  youth who have left foster care to enforce unmet court orders that required agencies to provide support to secure basic needs such as housing, documents, and driver’s licenses. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law by the governor. It became effective on June 19, 2025.

SLLRU worked tirelessly to ensure passage of landmark legislation raising the lower age of juvenile delinquency in New York State. As a result, starting in 2023, elementary school age children, including those as young as seven, are longer subject to handcuffing, arrest, detention and prosecution, unless charged with homicide. Instead, children under 12 and their families must be provided with services, when needed, without subjecting children to the trauma of arrest and to a legal process they are unable to comprehend.

SLLRU was instrumental in the passage of City Council legislation mandating the NYC Administration for Children’s Services to report on the prescription of psychotropic medication to children in foster care. This data allows NYC and the public at large to monitor prescribing practices for problematic patterns. It is widely recognized that children in foster care are subject to the excessive and often inappropriate use of psychotropic medication, including multiple prescriptions for serious anti-psychotic medications, prescriptions to very young children, and the lack of monitoring of harmful side effects.

With the assistance of pro bono partner Cravath, Swaine & Moore, SLLRU has succeeded in forcing the NYPD to destroy an unlawful database of tens of thousands of juveniles’ fingerprints.

SLLRU partnered with specialized units within The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Practice, challenging the treatment of runaway and homeless youth (C.W. v. City of New York). Following the filing of C.W., SLLRU, Civil Law Reform, and pro bono partner Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, succeeded in obtaining relief for NYC homeless youth, with the City increasing the number of available youth-specific shelter beds from 253 in 2013 to 753 beds at present.

In R.F.M. v. Nielsen, SLLRU, along with Latham & Watkins LLP and Civil Practice units, defeated federal efforts to unduly restrict the availability of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a pathway to citizenship, to young people ages 18-21. Thousands of young people in New York State stand to benefit as a result.