Helping Clients Navigate Life
At CLC, we are not only attorneys and social workers. We are also counselors. Yes, we are fighting for our clients’ wishes as they relate to the court case they are involved in, but we are also providing clients with support as they negotiate challenging life circumstances. We are there to help them understand all the different options in front of them.
Selma
During Selma’s very first meeting with us several years ago, she disclosed suicidal ideation, saying she would kill herself if she had to keep living with her Mom. Selma had been living with her Mom and Mom’s very abusive husband in New Jersey. One of our attorneys filed an Order to Show Cause to modify her schedule, and it was modified to week to week. The subsequent hearing on the modification morphed into trial.
As the trial progressed, Selma’s mother took measures to improve her living situation. She moved to Brooklyn to live with Selma’s grandmother. And she realized that Selma’s mental health was being impacted and got her in therapy immediately. Importantly, she avoided her abusive husband, maintained Selma’s physical and mental health treatment, and made sure that she stayed in school. Despite these changes, Selma continued to struggle. She hated that Mom made her go to school, hated that Mom wouldn’t let her visit Dad on her days, and hated living with her grandmother.
This is where our social worker came in. She was instrumental in talking through all of these issues while Selma’s mom continued to make changes. Selma’s mom got her own apartment so that she and Selma wouldn’t have to live with her grandma anymore. Finally, seeing the progress her mother had made, Selma agreed to a proposed settlement to maintain the week-to-week schedule. Selma’s mother and father also agreed, putting an end to protracted litigation.
Zachary
A SW was able to help advocate for a client in foster care to be able to move into her own NYCHA apartment while still remaining on trail discharge with ACS (vs final discharge). ACS was insisting that moving into her own housing (vs a SILP where she had previously been living) automatically triggered a ticking clock on trial discharge and that she would need to move to final discharge within six months. This would have meant that in order to receive College Choice funding, she would have been forced to begin college within that trial discharge time period, when she had stated very clearly her desire to keep working in her job for another year before beginning school. She had a strong vision for her life and the timing of each step she wanted to take, and it would have been extremely shortsighted to push her into starting a higher education program before she was ready. Our advocacy led FCLS to consent to extending her trial discharge period beyond the standard timeframe so that she could begin college fall 2026 as she had planned.