Broward legal aid receives $250,000 grant from Children’s Services Council
Broward legal aid receives $250,000 grant from Children’s Services Council
Legal Aid Service of Broward County received a $250,000 grant from the Children’s Services Council to expand the current legal services provided for children in the child welfare/dependency system.
Recognizing a need for advocacy that leads to permanency, the council initiated this program that supports legal aid attorneys representing children.
The funding will enable a team of three attorneys, a managing attorney, social worker, and a paralegal to advocate for shortened lengths of stay for children in foster care, address systemic issues in the Broward child welfare system, and continue community-wide efforts to make improvements.
The team will follow models that have been successful on the national level, making sure that the focus remains on the child.
Through collaboration with community stakeholders, the program team will advocate for timely, safe, and appropriate permanency options, which are either reunification, placement with a relative, or adoption.
“Our goal is permanency for the child, and this project focuses on achieving that goal in a timely manner,” said Walter Honaman, supervising attorney for the Children’s Advocacy Unit at LAS. “minimizing the time that a child is in the dependency system, we help stabilize Broward County on all levels and most efficiently use the monies spent on the child welfare system.”
For more information about the work of LAS, visit www.browardlegalaid.org.
