Emilie Cook is the Preventive Legal Advocacy Fellow at Emory University School of Law’s Barton Child Law & Policy Center. With the support of the Barton Center and its partners, Emilie works with multi-disciplinary teams across the country to promote and support preventive legal advocacy programs that engage in the provision of high quality legal advocacy and upstream support services to address the effects of poverty, systemic racism, and other forms of discrimination and oppression that harm families and lead to unnecessary child welfare system involvement. Before joining the Barton Center in 2022, Emilie spent seven years representing parents and children in dependency proceedings in rural Georgia, and served as circuit guardian ad litem for the Ocmulgee Juvenile Court and Ocmulgee Family Drug Treatment Court Panels. Emilie is a passionate proponent of preventive legal advocacy and its capacity to improve outcomes for children and families.