August 2, 2023
Attorney Amanda Simmons of Ambika Law, PC helps pass House of Delegates Resolution 605 at the American Bar Association’s 2023 Annual Meeting
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.
The American Bar Association (ABA) was founded in 1878 on a, “commitment to set the legal and ethical foundation for the American nation.” The ABA’s 2023 Annual Meeting offered a forum for the nation's top legal professionals to debate critical public policy issues and establish official policies for the ABA.
Amanda Simmons received special permission to speak on the floor of the ABA’s House of Delegates
Alongside 11:11 Impact’s Policy Strategist Caroline Cole and investigative reporter Chelsea Maldonado, Amanda shared her personal experience with institutional child abuse in the “troubled teen industry” before the ABA’s house of delegates. Her moving speech not only garnered a rare standing ovation from the legal community but also helped motivate the delegates to pass Resolution 605.
House of Delegates Resolution 605, which Amanda helped draft with the ABA’s SOGI Committee, “supports enactment of the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act (H.R. 2955 and S. 1351, 118th Congress) or similar legislation that aims to study and prevent child abuse in youth residential programs, and supports the adoption of state, local, territorial and tribal legislation that facilitate uniform standards for preventing child abuse in residential facilities.”
In addition to helping pass House of Delegates Resolution 605, Amanda was also able to network and engage with leading experts in children’s rights, human trafficking, litigation, and other areas of law pertaining to child welfare. Through these invaluable connections, Amanda hopes to engage the broader legal community in discussing this important issue and help to identify new legal pathways for addressing institutional child abuse and neglect in residential facilities and “troubled teen industry” programs.
Amanda Simmons is a California and Utah based attorney focusing on children’s rights, juvenile mental health, educational law, disability rights, special needs estate planning, school injury and conservatorships. As one of the only attorneys to publicly identify as both a survivor of childhood sexual assault and institutional child abuse in the “troubled teen industry,” Amanda is uniquely qualified to advocate for youth in ‘big residential’ programs.
The full text of House of Delegates Resolution 605 and accompanying research report is available here.