Tara Ford, Senior Counsel at Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law, has focused her career on working with children and their families to safeguard their rights to education, special education, health care, and mental health care. She has long worked to protect the rights of children and families when they are involved in the dependency system, with the goal of keeping families together. She has also partnered with Native American children, families, and tribes – litigating cases focused on education, ICWA, and voting rights.

Tara was the Co-Founder of Pegasus Legal Services for Children, a non-profit law firm serving children and their families in New Mexico. In 2016, Tara authored “Pegasus Legal Services for Children: Taking Stock of a Rebellious Non-Profit Practice in New Mexico,” published by the Clinical Law Review. She is a child welfare law specialist in NM certified by the National Counsel for Children.