South Brooklyn Legal Services' (SBLS) Child Welfare Advocacy Project (CWAP) represents mothers and grandparents who have had, or are threatened with having, their children placed in foster care. SBLS helps clients obtain preventive services, treatment, and counseling to provide them with the best possible opportunity to keep families together or reunite separated families. SBLS also works to ensure that their clients can access treatment programs that allow them to continue to care for their children while they are receiving treatment. Many of New York's substance abuse programs are isolation programs which do not enable parents to care for their children while receiving treatment. SBLS has litigated on systemic advocacy issues stemming from the State's failure to involve parents in a permanency planning issues pertaining to the child's future.
The CWAP also deals with foster care issues as they relate to domestic violence. In abusive situations, SBLS works to remove abusers from a home and keep them away while also ensuring that children are not placed in a foster home due to the mother's inability to protect her child. To compliment this work, SBLS participates in the Child Welfare Task Force on Domestic Violence to share information and coordinate services throughout New York City.
A documentary was recently released entitled "Love and Diane" that tells the story of a family that was represented by SBLS' Family Law Unit. For more information on this film, visit: http://www.wmm.com/loveanddiane/. In addition, SBLS posted client education materials that relate to this project on their website at: http://www.sbls.org/.
Contact Information:
Chip Gray South Brooklyn Legal Services 105 Court Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Phone: (718) 237-5524 Fax: (718) 855-0733 chipg@sbls.org
LSC:
America's Partner for Equal Justice 