Office Details
Administrative Assistant: Katrice Williams, 410.837.5615
John and Frances Angelos Law Center, Room 536
Education
J.D., Boston University School of Law
B.A., New York University
Areas of Expertise
Child Welfare
Family Law
Parents’ Rights
Children’s Rights
Domestic Violence
Gender and the Law
Law and Poverty
Reproductive Justice
Biography
Trivedi is a widely published legal scholar and policy advocate in popular media, with a focus on promoting policies and primary prevention approaches to prevent the damage to children of family separation. Her opinion piece, “Apparently We Don’t Need Abortion Because of Foster Care…or Whatever,” responding to a statement by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett during the Dobbs argument, was the most-read article of 2021 on Ms. magazine’s website. She actively publishes in legal journals and media outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Ms. and The Hill.
She has testified before the Maryland and Montana legislatures, and has worked with numerous states on improving legislation to avoid unnecessary family separation. She also partners with local and national nonprofits on issues affecting marginalized families and children.
Trivedi joined the UBalt Law faculty in 2021 as an assistant professor of law and faculty director of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Family, Children and the Courts. In addition to teaching courses in family law and child welfare law, she is faculty advisor for the law school’s Family Law Association. She previously served as a clinical teaching fellow at the UBalt School of Law’s Bronfein Family Law Clinic, and as a clinical teaching fellow in the Domestic Violence Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center.
Prior to focusing on teaching and scholarship, Trivedi spent nearly a decade in legal practice. She was a staff attorney at Brooklyn Defender Services’ Family Defense Practice, representing parents embroiled in the child welfare system. Through this work, she tackled the myriad challenges facing low-income, minority and otherwise disadvantaged families and developed her scholarly interests in family separation. Prior to this, Trivedi also volunteered for Sanctuary for Families in New York, representing survivors of domestic violence and serving as co-chair of their Pro Bono Council LGBT committee.
Her first job out of law school was as an associate working in commercial and securities law at Winston & Strawn LLP in New York. During her time there, she dedicated countless hours to pro bono projects for organizations including the Innocence Project and Human Rights First, and personally secured asylum for a Gambian refugee persecuted for speaking out against his government.
As a law student, Trivedi became interested in poverty and constitutional law issues and worked as research assistant for a renowned Fourth Amendment scholar, assisting with projects related to racial profiling and illegal searches and seizures.
Book Chapters
Trivedi, S., & Carrington Smith, E. (2025). Surviving the ‘Child Welfare System'. NYU Press.
Refereed Journal Articles
Trivedi, S. (2022). Help Not Hotlines: Replacing Mandated Reporting For Neglect With a New Framework for Family Support. Family Integrity & Justice Quarterly. Spring 2022.
Non-Refereed Journal Articles
Trivedi, S. (2023). The Adoption and Safe Families Act is Not Worth Salvaging: The Case for Repeal.
Trivedi, S. (2023). Caring for Children While Punishing Parents. Yale Law School.
Law Review
Trivedi, S. (2025). .
Trivedi, S. (2025). .
Magazine/Trade Publication
Trivedi, S. (2024). Ivan Bates’ Cruel Threat to Charge Parents When Children Arrested. Baltimore Banner.
Trivedi, S. (2024). 50 years after the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, it’s time to redefine child protection through a lens of equity and support. The Giro.
Trivedi, S. (2023). Inadequate Housing For Foster Children is Only Half of the Problem. Baltimore Banner.
Trivedi, S. (2022). Amidst a Nationwide Formula Shortage, a Reminder: The Decision To Breastfeed Is Personal. Ms. Magazine.
Law Review
Trivedi, S., & . (2022). A Role for Communities in Reasonable Efforts to Prevent Removal. Columbia Journal of Race & Law. 12(1),
Magazine/Trade Publication
Trivedi, S. (2022). The Supreme Mom Guilt Is Real: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and Motherhood. Ms. Magazine.
Trivedi, S. (2021). Apparently We Don’t Need Abortion Because of Adoption … “or Whatever”. Ms. Magazine.
Law Review
Trivedi, S. (2021). My Family Belongs to Me: A Child’s Constitutional Right to Family Integrity. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Journal.
Magazine/Trade Publication
Trivedi, S. (2021). Britney Spears and the Right to Reproductive Justice: Regulation and Conservatorship in the Child Welfare System. Ms. Magazine.
Trivedi, S. Family Law Scholars and Teachers Conference, "Parental Rights and Family Policing," (2026).
Trivedi, S. University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School 45th Annual Edward V. Sparer Symposium, "Courts Without Counsel," (2026).
Trivedi, S. Domestic and State Violence After Dobbs, "Domestic and State Violence After Dobbs," (2025).
Trivedi, S. Family Law Scholars and Teachers, "Domestic and State Violence After Dobbs," (2025).
Trivedi, S. International Society of Family Law, "A Post-Dobbs World: Medical Care, Domestic Violence, and Resistance," (2025).
Trivedi, S. International Society of Family Law, "Domestic and State Violence After Dobbs," (2025).
Trivedi, S. Richmond Junior Faculty Forum, "Domestic and State Violence After Dobbs," (2025).
Trivedi, S. Richmond Junior Faculty Forum, "Domestic and State Violence after Dobbs," Richmond Law School. (2025).
Trivedi, S. Annual Meeting on Law and Society, "Exploring Punishment's Institutional Boundaries," (2025).
Trivedi, S. (2025).
Trivedi, S. (2025).
Trivedi, S. Health Law and Advancing Equitable Access to Care for Youth, "Adolescent Access to Reproductive Health Care post-Dobbs," (2025).
Trivedi, S. State Responses to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the Battle to Secure Reproductive Freedom, "Dobbs on Family Planning," (2025).
Trivedi, S. Teach-In on The New Administration, "Child Welfare In the New Administration," (2025).
Trivedi, S. AALS Annual Meeting, "Teaching Child, Parent & State," (2025).
Trivedi, S. The Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect, "How Family Policing Harms Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. NYU Clinical Writers' Workshop, "The Devastating Effects of Family Policing on Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. The Kempe Center International Virtual Conference, "How Family Policing Harms Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Family Law Scholars and Teachers Conference, "The Devastating Effects of Family Policing on Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. 2024 AALS Workshop for New Law Teachers, "Distributing Your Ideas," (2024).
Trivedi, S. University of Richmond Junior Faculty Forum, "“Am I Still a Parent?” The Devastating Effects of Family Policing on Parents,," (2024).
Trivedi, S. The Counsel for Child and Abuse and Neglect, "A Legal and Social Science Framework for Considering the Harm of the Removal," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Committee for Public Counsel, Massachusetts, "A Legal and Social Science Framework for Considering the Harm of the Removal," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Annual Meeting of the Office of the Public Defender, "The Constitution Applies to CINA Case," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Maryland/UB Junior Faculty Forum, "“Am I Still a Parent?” The Devastating Effects of Family Policing on Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. ABA Parent Representation Conference, "How The Family Policing System Harms Parents," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, Child Protective Defense Conference, "Keynote," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Children in Court and Race Equity Education Conference, "The Constitution Applies to Child Welfare Cases," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Montana Office of the State Public Defender, "The Constitution Applies to Child Welfare Cases," (2024).
Trivedi, S. Office of Criminal Conflict & Civil Regional Counsel, 4th DCA Region, Parent Representation Conference, "The Child Welfare System’s Approach to Domestic Violence is Not What’s Best for Kids or Their Parents," (2023).
Trivedi, S. Keeping Families Together: Crisis in Child Welfare,, (2023).
Trivedi, S. How We EndUp, "How We Win: Lessons Learned from Policy Changers," (2023).
Trivedi, S. What’s Next? Supporting Children, Youth and Families in a Post-Abolition World, (2023).
Trivedi, S. The Annual Meeting on Law & Society, "Focusing on Families: Centering Lived Experience in Teaching Family Policing," (2023).
Trivedi, S. The Annual Meeting on Law and Society, "Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families – and How Abolition Can Build a Better World by Dorothy Roberts, and Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care by Wendy A. Bach," (2023).
Trivedi, S. “Are Parental Rights Always In the Best Interest of Children? Race, Gender, Sexuality and the Conflict Over Parental Rights, "Panelist," (2023).
Trivedi, S. Poverty Law Conference, "The Adoption and Safe Families Act Should Not Be Salvaged: The Case for Repeal," (2023).
Trivedi, S. UB Law in Focus, "Is the Indian Child Welfare Act Unconstitutional?," (2023).
Trivedi, S. Family Violence Roundtable, "Mandating Support for Survivors," (2022).
Trivedi, S. Kempe International Conference, "The Harm of Child Removal," (2022).
Trivedi, S. National Association of Counsel for Children Annual Conference, "The Constitution Applies to Child Welfare," (2022).
Trivedi, S. American Bar Association National Parent Representation Conference, "Trauma-informed Systemic Advocacy," (2022).
Trivedi, S. Iowa State Bar Association Juvenile Law Conference,, "The Harm of Child Removal," (2022).
Trivedi, S. University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, "Preserving Families Through Primary Prevention," (2022).
Trivedi, S. University of Baltimore School of Law, "Recognizing" the Black Family: Structural Racism's Obstacles to Kinship, Wealth and Prosperity," (2021).
Trivedi, S. Strengthened Bonds: Abolishing the Child Welfare System and Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being, "A Role for Communities in Reasonable Efforts to Prevent Remov," (2021).
Trivedi, S. AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education, "Teaching Family Separation Across Practice Areas," (2021).
Trivedi, Shanta , "Summer Research Fellowship" Sponsored by School of Law, The University of Baltimore, $20000. (2024).
WMAR: (2025).
Baltimore Banner: (2025).
Baltimore Sun: Opinion Piece. Time to reject status quo that fails Maryland’s foster kids (2025).
Baltimore Sun: (2025).
Baltimore Sun: (2025).
WMAR: (2025).
Baltimore Banner: (2025).
Baltimore Banner: (2024).
Baltimore Banner: (2024).
WYPR Midday with Tom Hall: (2024).
The ABA Journal: (2024).
The UpEnd Podcast: (2023).
Baltimore Banner: (2023).
The Daily Record: (2023).
The Imprint: (2023).
ACLU at Liberty Podcast: (2022).
EPPIC Broadcast: (2021).
The Imprint: (2021).
Maryland Daily Record Family Law Update: (2021).
Latino USA: (2021).
Unsafe in Foster Care: “Unsafe In Foster Care” also delves into the systemic problems of the child welfare system and its racist practices. The number of Latino children removed by DCFS in 2020 amounted to almost 60 percent of all children removed, similar to the number of Latino children in the county’s child population. Yet for Black children, who make up only 7.4 percent percent of LA County’s child population, they are almost one quarter of all the children removed. (2021).
The Nation - How Covid-19 Supercharged a Foster System Crisis: Legal scholar and former family defense attorney Shanta Trivedi said, “The same biases that we see throughout the system are present in mandated reporting. Mandatory reporters see kids who are coming to school in less-than-ideal clothes, or [having eaten] less food than they should or whatever. And they’re likely to report those kids.… But it’s not really a secret that their judgment of parents of color is much stronger than their judgment of middle-class white moms.” (2021).