Keely Sewell, a member of the Class of 2011 at Elon Law, spent her summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia working with the country's First Federal Instance Court on an initiative to provide court-appointed social workers to represent the interests of children in family law cases.
As part of her work, Sewell developed a policy and procedures manual, a code of ethics, and assessment tools and forms for social workers to use when filing recommendations with the court on behalf of children in family law cases. She also met with social workers on a weekly basis to discuss their cases and to help determine the best strategy for handling each case.
Sewell said she found her work to provide greater representation for children in the court system very rewarding. “My trip has furthered my desire to work in the field of child advocacy,” Sewell said.
Sewell also began working on another court-facilitated project while in Ethiopia, to create a mentorship program for orphaned children. The goal, she said, was to use social workers hired by the court to form relationships with children in the orphanage.
“Initially the project will target those children who have experienced severe trauma either through rape or other physical abuse,” Sewell said. “Eventually the hope is to have enough resources for all the orphaned children in Addis Ababa to have mentors. This initiative is similar to our Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program.”
Sewell said her interest in working in Ethiopia developed while working as a legal assistant for the Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I was particularly interested in spending my summer in Ethiopia because The Gladney Center is involved in various child focused projects in Ethiopia outside of adoption,” Sewell said.
Sewell, who also worked in several orphanages around Addis Ababa during her free time over the summer, said The Gladney Center provided funding for her to build an outside play area for toddlers at the Kebebe Tsehay orphanage.
“This was a rewarding project because prior to building a play area, the toddlers were restricted to staying inside a small room all day,” Sewell said. “The only outside area was also where older children played, so it was hard for the caretakers to keep track of the toddlers and make sure they were safe. The new fenced-in play area for the toddlers helped the caretakers develop a daily routine of taking all the toddlers and babies outside for at least an hour a day.”
Sewell said she continues to work on the orphan-mentor project and remains in regular contact with social workers in Ethiopia.