Lara Holtzman

Lara Holtzman (she/her), Vice President of Legal and Program Services, has over 35 years of experience in child welfare overcoming barriers to services and creating a safety net for the most vulnerable families.

Specializing in child welfare law, Lara, oversees the direct service programs at the Alliance, and provides oversight of client services and the representation provided by the programs. Lara is responsible for development and reporting on grants to support the programs.

Before joining the Alliance, Lara was the research attorney for Juvenile Court in Los Angeles County and represented children and parents in Dependency Court proceedings. As a Research Attorney, Lara helped develop the first Los Angeles County Juvenile Court Local Rules, including the policy to ensure that all children be represented by independent counsel, the policy for court oversight of psychotropic medication administered to foster and probation youth, and a formal policy between the dependency and the delinquency courts for referrals. Lara helped developed and participated in a volunteer literacy program at the Juvenile Halls.

Since joining the Alliance in 1998, Lara helped the Alliance win a number of important rights to support children and families, including the right to monthly visitation by a social worker, a minor’s right to media access and confidentiality, access to records, and most importantly access to critical benefits and services such as: health care, financial assistance, housing, education, guardianship, adoption and many other services for families in need.

Lara earned a B.A. from UCI and a J.D. and M.S. in policy from the SUNY Buffalo.