Experts

Lili Frank Garfinkel is the coordinator of the Juvenile Justice Project at the PACER Center in Minneapolis. PACER is a parent center for families of children and young adults with physical, emotional, cognitive and learning disabilities. PACER provides workshops, resources, individual advocacy, training and technical assistance for parents and professionals both in Minnesota and nationally. Educated at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, with some post graduate work in Minnesota, Mrs. Garfinkel has worked with underrepresented groups in Canada and Minnesota. She coordinated the Lets Prevent Abuse project for PACER in 1984-87, and started the Juvenile Justice Project in 1994, the first in the United States to consider the relationship between Juvenile Justice and the presence of disabilities. From 1999-2006 she was a member of the National Center on Education Disability and Juvenile Justice, a unique partnership which provided research, training and technical assistance as well as parent advocacy in this emerging field. Mrs. Garfinkel has been published widely and has presented across the country on a variety of topics pertaining to mental health, juvenile justice, special education and working with families. She has developed a handbook on Juvenile Justice and Mental health titled "Unique Challenges, Hopeful Responses," which is currently being revised and expanded to include more disability information, new IDEA regulations and issues including competency in court. She also co-authored a book with Dr. Andrew Slaby, "No One Saw My Pain" (Norton, 1994).