Elizabeth Bartholet
Alma materRadcliffe College
Harvard Law School
EmployerHarvard Law School
Known forCivil rights and family law, specializing in child welfare, adoption and reproductive technology, homeschooling opposition
TitleMorris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Founding Faculty Director Harvard Law School's Child Advocacy Program

Elizabeth Bartholet is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School,[1] and Faculty Director of Harvard Law School's Child Advocacy Program (CAP).[2] She teaches civil rights and family law, specializing in child welfare, adoption and reproductive technology.

Before joining the Harvard Faculty, she was engaged in civil rights and public interest work, first with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and later as founder and director of the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization in New York City focused on criminal justice and substance abuse issues.

Bartholet is a supporter of the #MeToo movement, but has criticized some of what she considers its excesses.[3]

Bartholet is an outspoken opponent of the homeschooling movement and has urged governments to implement policies to make it protect homeschooled children from abuse.[4][5] Bartholet helped to organize the Summit to Regulate Homeschooling to be held at the Harvard Law School on June 18–19, 2020. Her co-organizer, William and Mary law professor James Dwyer, is the author of a 1994 law review article entitled "Parents' Religion and Children's Welfare: Debunking the Doctrine of Parents' Rights" (82 Calif. L. Rev. 1371), claiming that the fundamental civic relationship is not that between parents and children but between the individual and the state.[6]

During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, when school closures forced necessary homeschooling,[7] her previously published perspective on homeschooling[8] was published in Harvard Magazine's May–June 2020 issue in an article by Erin O'Donnell.[9] Bartholet's anti homeschooling views received media attention [10] and drew criticism from homeschool proponents.[11][12][13]

Bartholet's publications include Nobody's Children: Abuse and Neglect, Foster Drift, and the Adoption Alternative (Beacon Press, 1999) and Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production (Beacon Press, 1999), as well as numerous law review articles.[14]

Bartholet earned a A.B. degree from Radcliffe College in 1962,[15] and was granted their Alumnae Recognition Award in 1997.[16] She earned a LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1965, graduating magna cum laude.[17]

References

  1. ^ School, Harvard Law. "Elizabeth Bartholet | Harvard Law School". Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  2. ^ "CAP website". Child Advocacy Program. 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  3. ^ Bartholet, Elizabeth (January 16, 2018). "#MeToo Excesses | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  4. ^ O'Donnell, Erin (May–June 2020). "The Risks of Homeschooling". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  5. ^ Elizabeth Bartholet (2020). "Homeschooling: Parent Rights Absolutism vs. Child Rights to Education & Protection". Arizona Law Review. 62 (1): 1. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  6. ^ Jones, Darren (March 27, 2020). "Harvard Summit to Discuss Regulating Homeschooling". HSLDA. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  7. ^ Creekmore, Heather (March 31, 2020). "Heather Creekmore: Coronavirus introduces millions of families to homeschooling – Here is how to make it work". Fox News.
  8. ^ https://arizonalawreview.org/pdf/62-1/62arizlrev1.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ O'Donnell, Erin (April 10, 2020). "The Risks of Homeschooling". Harvard Magazine.
  10. ^ Parke, Caleb (April 21, 2020). "Harvard prof calls homeschooling 'dangerous,' says it gives parents 'authoritarian control' over kids". Fox News.
  11. ^ Bauer, Fred (April 20, 2020). "Proposals to Ban Homeschooling Are an Attack on Pluralism". National Review.
  12. ^ Showalte, Brandon (20 April 2020). "Harvard prof. calls for ban on homeschooling, responses emerge". The Christian Post.
  13. ^ Mohler, Albert. "The Briefing - Monday, April 20, 2020". albertmohler.com.
  14. ^ "HLS : Elizabeth Bartholet: Publications". www.law.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  15. ^ "About Elizabeth Bartholet". Retrieved 2020-11-10.
  16. ^ "CAP Faculty and Staff". cap.law.harvard.edu. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  17. ^ Alumni Directory of the Harvard Law School. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Law School. 2011. p. 45.
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