For most kids, turning 18 is an important milestone, marked by big parties, plans and beginnings: packing for college, starting a job, getting that first car. But for many teenagers in foster care, their 18th birthday brings only their exit from care, all too often their belongings shoved in a plastic bag with a small amount of money that won’t cover the first month’s rent.
These youth, more than 200 each year in King County alone, are left to transition into adulthood without the support of family and often without close friends because of constant moves between foster homes. What becomes of them? Some, unfathomably resilient after years in the foster care system, find a job and safe housing, and do well. Many do not, facing high levels of unemployment, educational failure, parenthood, homelessness and, all too often, incarceration.
Many of these poor outcomes result from legal stumbling blocks, such as the inability to get housing because a relative has stolen the youth’s identity and ruined their credit rating, or difficulty finding a job because of a misdemeanor assault conviction from an argument in a group home many years ago. These youth survive years of abuse or neglect and separation from their families only to find that success as an adult is barred by a simple legal problem, a problem that could be solved quickly with the help of an attorney.
To this end, the American Bar Association Commission on Youth at Risk looked to the Center for Children & Youth Justice (CCYJ) to develop a program to provide legal help for these youth in their transition to adulthood. Former Washington Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge, founding president of CCYJ, believes the program fits in well with the mission of CCYJ — to develop and advance innovative approaches to systemic changes to support kids and strengthen communities.
“We are committed to programs that provide youth with access to legal services as means to access the benefits and support they are entitled to,” Justice Bridge said. “Our aim in developing this program was to connect the private bar with these youth to help them avoid the homelessness and health and educational failures that befall so many. This program allows pro bono lawyers to really make a difference in these youths’ lives.”
CCYJ turned to Perkins Coie to help with the project in July, and Perkins Coie offered to staff the six-month program launch with a full-time Community Service Fellow. Partner Julia Clarke, pro bono coordinator at Perkins Coie, was equally dedicated to the project. “We saw development of this program as a way to provide much needed help for these youth and further connect our lawyers with the community,” she said.
Fast forward five months and a new pro bono program is up and running. The Lawyers Fostering Independence Program (LFI) recruits, trains and matches pro bono attorneys with youth leaving foster care who need legal help with issues such as housing, benefits denials, family law issues, resolving identity theft, employment discrimination and sealing juvenile records.
The program is based at CCYJ and staffed with 50 pro bono counsel from all manner of practices who attended a CLE hosted at Perkins Coie in November. One of those pro bono counsel, Jonathan Milstein, is an assistant attorney general who already spends each day making sure youth are being raised in safe and stable homes.
“I meet these youth in court and I can see in their eyes the desperation for help beyond what we are trying to do for them in dependencies,” Milstein said. “And once these youth are 18, they don’t just go away. I saw this program as a great way to reach out to these young people and do more.”
Ramie O’Neill, an associate at K&L Gates, has a personal reason for wanting to help. “My cousin was adopted out of the foster system in Miami,” she said, “and her experiences have shown me the hardships foster children face. Children who grow up in foster care frequently leave the foster system with no real family and no one to turn to in times of crisis. The Lawyers Fostering Independence Program is a tremendous opportunity to help these young people navigate the transition into adulthood.”
Family law attorney Stacy Heard feels the same way. “These young people are all alone,” Heard said, “with no anchor and no one to help them, often in situations where they are teen parents trying to raise their own children. The resilience of these youth is inspiring and helping them become successful adults is incredibly rewarding.”
Heard is helping Carneisha, a 19-year-old, former foster youth served by the program. Carneisha aged out of foster care at 18 after a lifetime in foster care and having her own baby at 16. She worked incredibly hard to secure stable housing and a job so she could raise her child, but threats from the father of her baby were turning her life upside down. She contacted the program and received immediate help to file a protection order. Heard is now helping Carneisha file a parenting plan and permanent protection order that will keep her and her child safe in the future, so she can concentrate on her community college classes in the new year.
Another youth, Jessica, also had made a good start on her own. She was working three jobs to afford her own apartment and had saved for a car. But then mold started creeping into her apartment, making it unlivable and ruining all her belongings. She was forced to start sofa surfing when the landlord failed to fix the problem despite repeated requests.
She turned to LFI, which provided pro bono counsel who negotiated with the landlord, securing a settlement that compensated her for her ruined clothes and bed, and paying her rent and moving expenses so she could start again.
“I so appreciate all the help I received from the program when I really needed it,” Jessica said. “I had worked so hard to get housing and move on in my life and having an attorney help me avoid homelessness has made all the difference.”
The program provides a clinic on the third Thursday of each month from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Center for Young Adults, 2100 24th Ave. S., Suite 250. Referrals also can be made directly to the program at any time and the program will try to match the youth with a pro bono attorney.
You can reach the Lawyers Fostering Independence Program at 206-696-7503, ext. 17, and via email at LFIIntake@ccyj.org to volunteer as a program attorney, as well as make a referral for a youth in need of pro bono counsel. Pro bono counsel receive training with free CLE credits and are supported by a staff attorney and expert mentors.
Kate Vaughan is the Perkins Coie Community Service Fellow at the Center for Children and Youth Justice. She can be reached at KVaughan@ccyj.org.
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