Published: May 25, 2007 12:49 pm            

CHILDREN: Award winning attorney from North Tonawanda watches over kids

The payoff for her compassion for children are the smiles she is able to bring to their faces.

“Many times I cry when children tell me how they are treated,” Delabio said.

Erin Delabio of North Tonawanda, is an award-winning attorney whose main goal is to help children. Whether they need a voice or a listening ear, Delabio is there for them.

“I knew in law school that my connection with law would be kids,” Delabio said.

As the mother of two young sons, she balances a hyper-busy schedule that includes three other jobs including: Assistant Niagara County attorney, town prosecutor in Wheatfield, and she is a law guardian in her own private practice.

“In my positions, all of my experiences with children help me to relate to the kids that I work with,” Delabio said.

Delabio was recently named prosecutor of the year by the Western New York Prosecutors Association. The award reflects Delabio’s heart-felt resolve to better the lives of children and her obvious compassion in doing so.

However, her success and prestige does not shake her humble nature. According to Delabio, she was a little confused as to why she was receiving an award.

“I basically received an award for doing my job,” Delabio said.

Her purpose is to listen, something that is priceless to the children that she works with.

“If I wasn’t working for this cause I would find it hard to come to work every day,” Delabio said.

As law guardian to children, Delabio provides legal services to children in family court proceedings and supreme court custody matters. She acts as the voice of children whose parents are in the process of or already divorced.

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Judges normally hears from her first. With the permission of the children she represents, Delabio is able to portray what the children truly want.

For example, in a recent case as law guardian to four children, she was not able to provide the children with what they wanted most. However, they were happy to have someone that listened to them.

“Thank you for listening Miss Erin,” were the words of the little girl that still brings tears to Delabio’s eyes. She is not embarrassed by her emotional connection to her young charges.

“If I separate myself, then I can’t be the attorney that I want to be,” Delabio said. “With kids you cannot separate yourself.”

Inversely, Delabio’s positions as assistant Niagara County attorney and Town of Wheatfield prosecutor allow her to help children in a different way, through prosecution.

“I really do believe that I give these children a second chance,” Delabio said. “Ninety-five percent of the problem is the parent sitting behind them.”

Delabio believes that getting the juveniles who commit crimes off of the streets creates an over all better environment.

“I offer these kids an opportunity to become self-disciplined through things like anger management,” Delabio said.

Delabio received a second award recently along with nine other law officials in Niagara County for a case that involved kids terrorizing a Jewish temple in Niagara Falls.

She believes that getting such kids off of the street not only creates a safer atmosphere for the people they endanger but also for themselves.

“These kids are able to get back on track and go to school,” she said.

        

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