About Debbie

I make my living as a lawyer, but what I do is take care of other people’s children. 

For more than 40 years, I have been working with traumatized children, starting when I was a preteen helping my parents with their summer camp and church ministries.  In the years since, I have served as a juvenile court probation officer/social worker, group home parent, criminal prosecutor, non-profit volunteer and Board member, and attorney defending youth-serving organizations.  

While still single and early in my legal career, I served as a volunteer foster parent for emergency placements.  In North Carolina, I worked as a federal prosecutor of child abuse and violent crimes, and served as a foster-parent for respite care and long-term placements of abused children  and teenagers.   I returned home to Georgia, switched to civil law, and married a man with five children, two of them still at home.  Most recently, my husband and I have found ourselves raising a grandchild.

Parenting other people’s children has been the greatest challenge and the greatest joy of my life.  I have made many mistakes, but I cannot imagine my life without them. Most important, I know that if I can do it, anyone can.

In my legal practice, I defend youth-serving organizations in cases ranging from accidents to claims of sexual abuse, and advise them about best practices for protecting the children in their care.  I blog about legal topics at YouthServicesLaw.com and about parenting issues at DebbieAusburn.com.