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With $1M in Funding, Your Case Plan Launches the Family Defense Council

Published by Ryan, Founder of Your Case Plan on

Your Case Plan Launches Family Defense Council to Strengthen Parent and Child Representation Nationwide

Raleigh, NC – September 10, 2025 – Your Case Plan, the leading case mangement and communication platform for parent and child representation, today announced the creation of the Family Defense Council, a new initiative dedicated to advancing the family defense movement through funding, technology, and data. This comes following the company's closing of their first round of funding of $1,000,000 backed by leading foundations and impact investors committed to protecting and strengthening vulnerable children and families. The announcement will be formally introduced at the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD) conference: Defending Families, Protecting Futures: The Frontlines of Defense Advocacy Skills Training

The Family Defense Council represents a long-term commitment by Your Case Plan’s founders, who have pledged a portion of company profits, equity, and team time to support the mission of strengthening parent and child representation across the United States. 

“Family defense is one of the most powerful, proven strategies for reducing unnecessary foster care and helping families safely reunify,” said Ryan O’Donnell, Co-Founder & CEO of Your Case Plan. “With the Family Defense Council, we’re putting our resources behind the attorneys, social workers, and advocates on the frontlines. Our goal is to accelerate their progress by giving them the tools, funding, and evidence they need to expand this movement nationwide.”

The Family Defense Council Will Focus On:

  • Funding: Helping organizations secure the resources to launch interdisciplinary programs and pilots that can lead to more statewide offices of parent and child representation, modeled after programs in states like Oklahoma's Office of Family Representation.

  • Technology: Offering grant-supported software and services to help organizations get started with Your Case Plan and complementary partner solutions in payroll, accounting, fundraising, and marketing.

  • Data & Best Practices: Sharing evidence and stories via outlets like the Community In-Site Podcast that demonstrate the impact of high-quality interdisciplinary defense, equipping policymakers and program leaders with actionable insights.

Building on Proven Models

States such as Oklahoma, North Carolina, and West Virginia are demonstrating the impact of investing in high quality legal representation for families. Your Case Plan, through the Family Defense Council, aims to ensure more states follow their lead by building the infrastructure needed to reduce foster care caseloads, strengthen families, and deliver better outcomes for children.

“There are several individuals as well as grassroots and national organizations that have laid the foundation of the family defense movement,” said O’Donnell. “We see the Family Defense Council as a complement to their work by providing members with concrete tools and resources to implement what they learn at conferences and webinars and turning momentum into lasting change.”

Before end of year, Family Defense Council will open their first call for applications for funding and support to support new projects and expand existing programs that are focused on the following areas:

  • Expanding the usage of multi-displinary legal defense teams for parents and youth
  • Reducing unnecessary court delays by improving engagement across parties
  • Notifying parents and children of court hearings to increase attendance
  • Providing "Know Your Rights" educational offerings to parents, youth, and caregivers
  • Providing training to system leaders, judges, attorneys, caseworkers, GAL/CASA and other professionals
  • Strengthening data collection to collect evidence to support the 
  • Supporting collaboration between court systems, child welfare systems, health plans, CASA programs, and partner community based organizations
  • Maximizing state's 4E funding reimbursements for legal representation
  • Implementing best practice standards like ACF's JCAMP measures

For more information and to sign up to learn about upcoming funding opportunities, research reports, and events: https://familydefensecouncil.org/

About Your Case Plan by Sunlight:

Founded by a former foster parent and serial tech entrepreneur, Sunlight is on a mission to strengthen America's social safety net. Sunlight’s first product, Your Case Plan, reduces the time children spend in foster care by improving legal representation and communication for all parties involved in a child welfare case. Trusted by leading states, our web and mobile apps make it simple, secure and HIPAA compliant to communicate via chat, voice, and video as well as share case notes, tasks, events, and documentation. For more information, visit: https://yourcaseplan.com

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