King County Office

Our King County office opened its doors in 1995 as a pilot project, with support from an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) grant and in-kind contributions from Columbia Legal Services (formerly Evergreen Legal Services) and The Defender Association.

King County staff work in a community that is active and focused on racial justice. The community’s engagement in addressing structural racism in systems (schools, governments, courts) makes our work exciting, relevant and urgent. We also work in a climate where there is a strong dichotomy between economic abundance and profound poverty. We always have this gap in our sights as we stand with our clients and their families.

Education barriers continue to be a barrier for a majority of our clients. Compared to other TeamChild offices, we historically have the highest rate of cases involving school discipline and school enrollment barriers. In recent years, we’ve become more deeply involved in post-disposition advocacy, including record sealing, restitution mitigation, and registration relief. Our record sealing work expanded through a two year partnership with the King County Employment and Education Resources, and we continue to coordinate regular record sealing clinics in Seattle and Kent.