Juvenile & Child Welfare

Section Leadership

Michael F. Kilkelly

Kilkelly operates Kilkelly Law Offices in Malden, where he concentrates in juvenile and domestic relations issues. He is a juvenile delinquency supervising attorney for Middlesex Defense Attorneys and the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) Youth Advocacy Department (YAD). Kilkelly previously spent 10 years as a regional coordinator for the CPCS Children and Family Law program. He is also an adjunct professor in the paralegal program at Middlesex Community College. Kilkelly has participated in continuing legal education programs for MCLE, CPCS, YAD, the Juvenile Bar Association, and others. He authored a chapter on Children in Need of Services (CHINS) proceedings in the MCLE manual, Child Welfare Practice in Massachusetts (2006 and Supp. 2009). Kilkelly was the 2003 recipient of the Judge Mary C. Fitzpatrick Children and Family Law Award from CPCS. He was president of the First District Eastern Middlesex Bar Association from 1998 to 1999. Kilkelly lives in Wakefield with his wife, attorney Susan K. Kilkelly.

Marlies Spanjaard

Spanjaard is the Director of Education Advocacy for The Edlaw Project, an initiative of the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts and the Committee for Public Counsel Services - Youth Advocacy and Children & Family Law Divisions. EdLaw advocates for the education rights of Massachusetts' highest risk children. She is responsible for supervising staff attorneys and interns, making program-wide policy decisions, and conducting state-wide trainings on education-related issues with a specific focus on representing court-involved youth. Spanjaard was previously a staff attorney at the Edlaw Project. She has trained a wide variety of audiences including parents, youth workers, students and lawyers.