Public Service/Pro Bono

At the foundation of Justice for Kids® is the core belief that every abused, neglected, disabled and abandoned child is in need of an attorney and guardian to represent and protect them when they are removed from their family and placed in state custody or foster care to ensure their safety, and physical and emotional well-being in dangerous child protection systems. The Justice for Kids® attorneys have been longtime supporters of many national and local advocacy organizations, Legal Aids and community programs that fight for children in child welfare, dependency, disability, and foster care systems who have been abused, neglected and abandoned.

Founders Justin Grosz and Howard Talenfeld both serve on the boards of national advocacy groups focused on advocating for the representation of children by attorneys and guardians in their dependency cases nationwide.  The JFK team has volunteered thousands of hours of pro bono time and raised millions of dollars in financial support for children’s advocacy groups, Legal Aid organizations, and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs in Florida and throughout the United States. They have fought to protect our nation’s at-risk populations by providing a voice to make much-needed systemic changes. Over the past three decades, Justice for Kids partners Howard Talenfeld, Justin Grosz and Stacie Schmerling and the lawyers at Kelley Kronenberg have embraced this mission, have been recognized for their work, and have vowed to continue their advocacy and support into the future.

Justice for Kids’® advocacy support of Legal Aid organizations began in Florida and now extends nationally. For decades, the firm’s partners have provided financial support, pro bono representation, and volunteer leadership to Legal Aids and children’s advocacy organizations, starting in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties and now extending to the National Association of Counsel for Children, the Youth Law Center, Legal Aid programs and CASA Programs. These also include organizations and advocacy groups in California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, and other jurisdictions.

For more than 20 years, Howard Talenfeld has been board chair of Florida’s Children First, and Justin Grosz serves on the board of the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC).

In 2025, Justice for Kids® began its sponsorship of the NACC’s Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and is committed to the sponsorship of the NACC Conference in Portland, Oregon. These efforts and financial commitments reflect the firm’s shared mission to ensure children—particularly foster children and children with disabilities—have meaningful representation and a voice in their own dependency and child welfare proceedings and systemically as well. We fight to protect safety and permanency for individual children in care, and then take lessons learned and fight for changes in state and federal laws.

The partners and staff at Justice for Kids® have long been supporters of children’s advocacy programs at Legal Aid organizations, including LAS and CCLA, such as the Tracey McPharlin Pro Bono Dependency Project and the Florida’s Children First representation program. They have helped obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, enabling Broward Legal Aid to hire full-time attorneys to represent dependent children. Justice for Kids® co-founder Stacie Schmerling has served as an Attorney Ad Litem through The Tracey McPharlin Pro Bono Dependency Project, and, like other Justice for Kids® attorneys, volunteered in support of fundraising and advocacy efforts for Legal Aid organizations and child advocacy initiatives throughout Florida.

 

In 2002, Howard Talenfeld became the founding board chair and president of Florida’s Children First (floridaschildrenfirst.org), Florida’s statewide advocacy group that has since been the voice for at-risk children. He devotes hundreds of hours every year to policy issues, administrative responsibilities, fundraising, and leadership critical to the existence, operation, and growth of the organization. Justice for Kids® co-founders Justin Grosz and Stacie Schmerling serve on the board and on host committees, respectively, further reflecting the firm’s deep and ongoing leadership commitment to organizations that advocate for children involved in the dependency system. The entire Justice for Kids® team is actively involved in the work of Florida’s Children First and similar child advocacy organizations.

In 2019, Justice for Kids® (Kelley Kronenberg, P.A.)  became the Presenting Statewide Sponsor, making a substantial, long-term commitment to the success and continuing work of the organization and reinforcing the firm’s long-standing support of advocacy groups that amplify the voices of children in dependency and foster care proceedings.

Justin and Howard are proudest of the work to expand and amplify the voices of Florida Youth SHINE, a Florida statewide group of 15 Chapters and almost 400 youth from foster care and their alumni, which advocate for statewide and national laws protecting their ability to age out of child protection systems independently, obtain their college and graduate degrees and transition into adulthood. Florida Youth SHINE members whose parents’ rights were terminated and who were never adopted now have each other as family.

Hear from members of Florida Youth SHINE how this organization has forever impacted their lives in this video:

Since 2009, Justice for Kids® attorneys have represented numerous children pro bono in complex dependency, disability and child welfare matters, devoting hundreds of hours to individual cases and broader advocacy efforts. This work extends beyond any one attorney and reflects a firm-wide commitment to representing children whose voices might otherwise go unheard.

Howard Talenfeld has served in volunteer leadership roles with numerous child advocacy and Legal Aid–focused organizations on both a statewide and national level, including service on the board of the Youth Law Center in San Francisco. He has served as chair of The Florida Bar Legal Needs of Children Committee three times and has worked extensively with The Florida Bar Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding Legal Aid throughout Florida. In recognition of decades of service supporting access to justice for children, Howard received The Florida Bar Foundation’s Medal of Honor Award. In 2002, he was on the steering committee that advocated for the creation of the Children’s Services Council of Broward County (CSC), and in 2014, he co-chaired the political action committee that successfully advocated for its permanent reauthorization. The CSC funds more than $60 million dollars and almost 100 programs each year to protect Broward’s children, including funding the Legal Aid Service of Broward County program that represents all dependent children in Broward County, Florida.

Justin Grosz serves as a board member of the National Association of Counsel for Children and Florida’s Children First. He also served as vice chair of The Florida Bar Legal Needs of Children Committee. Since 2019, he has undertaken the pro bono representation of dependent children in various types of cases.

Justice for Kids® and its attorneys have also supported CASA and Guardian ad Litem programs throughout Florida and other parts of the country, as well as numerous children’s charities and advocacy organizations, often serving on boards, committees, and advisory councils. Most recently, Justice for Kids® served as the title sponsor of the National Association of Counsel for Children’s annual conference, an umbrella organization supporting child-focused Legal Aid and advocacy programs nationwide. 

Members of the Justice for Kids® team continue to serve in leadership roles with state and national advocacy organizations, reflecting the firm’s enduring commitment to supporting the professionals and organizations who represent children first.

Justice for Kids® attorneys Howard Talenfeld and Nicole Coniglio were successful in challenging a substantial reduction in private duty nursing hours by a managed care provider, which had reduced benefits for a medically fragile child through a paper review. They also successfully challenged the improper award of L.P.N. hours where R.N. hours were medically necessary. In 2013, they were honored by the Daily Business Review as part of its Most Effective Lawyers Awards program for their work on this case.

Active in the legal community, Justice for Kids® partner Lisa Hoffman is a member of the Volusia County Bar Association and the Public Interest Law section of The Florida Bar. She also enjoys serving her community through volunteer work and advocating for children with special needs, including her son, Heath, who lives with Angelman Syndrome. Lisa is actively involved with the Angelman Syndrome Foundation and the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics, hosting the annual Hole Out Fore Heath golf tournament, participating in the Angelman walk each year, and traveling to the Legislature to advocate for Angelman Syndrome awareness and policies that support those with special needs. She is also a proud supporter of Florida’s Children First and a member of its disabilities and Orlando host committee that raises critical funds to support its programs. Additionally, Justice for Kids® associate Jacob Wander is following in the footsteps of the JFK leaders by serving on the board of directors of the Broward County Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.

In 2025, Justice for Kids® co-founder Justin Grosz summited Mount Kilimanjaro’s 19,341 feet in Tanzania, East Africa. As an advocate and voice for children in need, he also spent time at a local orphanage and sponsored housing for 45 children there. Justin’s perseverance has metaphorically demonstrated that there is no place that Justice for Kids® won’t go to make a difference in the lives of those who need us the most. Indeed, Justice for Kids® lawyers truly believe in local, statewide, national and federal advocacy that improves the lives of this country’s abused, neglected, and children with disabilities.