Sharon Balmer Cartagena (she/her) is the Directing Attorney of Public Counsel’s Child, Youth & Family Advocacy Project. Growing up in Reading, PA, infamous for being the poorest city in the United States, Sharon saw up close how income equity, housing and school segregation, school-based criminalization, and racial disparities in child welfare devastate generations of children, youth, and families.
Since graduating from law and social work school in 2007, Sharon has represented children, youth, and families on a variety of legal issues, including family law, probate guardianships, access to public benefits, education rights, and other legal issues that destabilize families and push them toward the door of child welfare. Sharon is a 2007 graduate of Fordham University School of Law and a 2006 graduate of Fordham University Graduate School of Social Work.
