On December 11, 2024, the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) hosted a national webinar titled “Congregate Care & Collective Trauma,” featuring a multidisciplinary panel of experts examining the troubled-teen industry. Panel hosts included Attorneys Amanda Simmons and Annette Smith, as well as survivor advocates Chelsea Maldonado and Kayla Muzquiz.

This 3-part ABA webinar series explores the history, policy solutions, and legal challenges and presents practical solutions for effective change.  Resolution 605 was adopted by the American Bar  Association in 2023 because of decades of well-documented abuse within the Troubled Teen Industry and youth residential treatment centers.  Despite this awareness, little has been done to protect children in institutional settings.

This 3-part ABA webinar series, coordinated by Attorney Amanda Simmons alongside SOGI, explores the history, policy solutions, and legal challenges and presents practical solutions for effective change.  Resolution 605 was adopted by the American Bar  Association in 2023 because of decades of well-documented abuse within the Troubled Teen Industry and youth residential treatment centers.

Attorney Amanda Simmons was selected as a speaker at the 2024 National Conference on Juvenile Justice, an annual conference presented by the National Coalition of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.  Amanda’s presentation, entitled, “Congregate Care, Collective Trauma” included other prominent figures in the conversation about the troubled teen industry including Judge Ernestine Gray, Caroline Cole, and Chelsea Maldonado.  

On March 12, 2024 Amanda was invited to speak as a guest lecturer for Professor and Attorney Annette Smith’s class on children and the Law at the University of Oregon School of Law.  Amanda presented alongside troubled teen industry survivors and advocates Kayla Muzquiz, Chelsea Maldonado and Caroline Cole.  The speakers covered topics including the importance of lived experience advocacy, legal issues in the troubled teen industry and challenges with placements in abusive residential facilities within the child welfare system. 

Amanda Simmons, lead attorney and founder of Ambika Law, presented at the 2023 Children's Mental Health Advocacy Conference hosted by Lives in the Balance. In collaboration with 11:11 Media Impact’s policy strategist Caroline Cole and investigative reporter Chelsea Maldonado, Amanda provided attendees with a through understanding of the “troubled teen industry” and the need for Federal policy reform, beginning with The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act (SICAA).

Amanda’s efforts at reform within youth treatment centers were recognized and acknowledged by the National Association of Women Judges at the 2023 Annual Conference in Indianapolis, IN. After seeing Amanda speak at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in support of Resolution 605, The Honourable Judge Toni Clarke, President of NAWJ, personally invited Amanda to attend and speak about the issue during the opening remarks of the conference.

Amanda Simmons, lead attorney and founder of Ambika Law, helped advocate for and pass House of Delegates Resolution 605 at the American Bar Association’s 2023 Annual Meeting alongside 11:11 Media Impact advocates and survivors Caroline Cole and Chelsea Maldonado.