Cindy Dyar

Before joining Texas Law, Cindy served as Managing Attorney of the Child Welfare team at Texas Legal Services Center, where she oversaw the Family Helpline and the Kincare Project. She previously founded and directed the Family Defense Project at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which provides representation to families at all stages of involvement with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). Cindy leveraged that experience into conceptualizing the Family Early Defense Network – a collaboration between Texas legal aids providing pre-petition representation to indigent families across the state involved with DFPS – and training the Network’s initial attorneys and social workers.

Before her work at Legal Aid, Cindy spent a decade as a staff attorney at both the Travis County Offices of Parental Representation and Child Representation, litigating complex termination cases in both bench and jury trials.

Cindy is Board Certified in Child Welfare Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is active in statewide efforts to improve legal representation in child welfare proceedings. She serves on multiple committees and workgroups and has presented at state and national conferences on family preservation, early legal intervention, and multidisciplinary advocacy.

Cindy earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a Darrow Scholarship recipient, an Articles Editor of the Michigan Journal of International Law, and a student attorney in the Child Advocacy Law Clinic. She received her B.S. in Public Affairs with High Distinction from Indiana University.