Daniela Brighenti Photo
Wayne Silvera, front, thanked the clinic for help with rats and leaks at home.
This past academic year, families of children enrolled at the Troup School had an unconventional setting when seeking legal counsel: a classroom at the school itself.
CThe school partnered with New Haven Legal Assistance Association, Inc. to establish the Family Legal Clinic, a free legal office staffed by legal-aid attorneys that helps families at Troup facing legal struggles.
In its first year of operation, the clinic assisted 28 families, which included preventing four evictions and guaranteeing health insurance for two families.
It worked so well that school officials want to expand it. But while they have to continue the program at Troup for the 2016 – 17 school year, it remains unclear if it will expand to other schools.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday morning, Board of Education Chief Operating Officer Will Clark praised the program for its assistance in keeping children in school.
“School attendance is critical, and what stops that?” Clark asked the audience. “Often it’s things like utilities being shut off. Fights with landlords. [These legal issues] lead to transiency, absenteeism, and then kids stop learning.”
NHLAA members highlighted the unique qualities of the clinic that make it a more fitting choice for parents seeking legal assistance.
Daniela Brighenti Photo
The Family Legal Clinic is at Troup School every Tuesday morning.
One of the clinic’s main goals, for example, is spreading awareness of people’s basic legal rights, NHLAA attorney Aaron Wenzloff said.
In that vein, organizers have weekly walk-in hours at the school, host “Know Your Rights presentations, — where pamphlets delineating the families’ civil rights are passed around — and set up tables at events for parents, such as Parent’s Night at the school.
“Sometimes, people don’t even know they have these rights,” Wenzloff said. “So we get families the information and the tools so they can stay stable.”
As an attorney in the family law unit, Wenzloff helps families facing issues such as domestic violence or custody fights.
That increased accessibility often means parents can meet with attorneys before their legal issue becomes a crisis, said NHLAA School-Based Clinic Coordinator Ashley Dalton. She added that it is also “psychologically different” for parents to feel that, if they need legal help again, “they know where we are.”
“It’s a huge relief,” NHLAA attorney Amy Eppler-Epstein said.
For Wayne Silvera, the grandfather of a female student at Troup, the clinic was a “god-send” to his family.
“Whenever it rained, we had leaks in our apartment. At one point in the winter, a part of our ceiling just collapsed,” Silvera said. He also faced a problem with rats, which often got into the house oven and generated a “very foul” smell.
At the press conference, Silvera thanked the Family Legal Clinic multiple times, and said he still receives calls every week to check in on his household.
“It’s a whole lot better than it’s ever been,” Silvera said.
Despite the clinic’s notable success in its first year, lack of funding might prevent its further expansion. Both Clark and Dalton said they are looking for someone who might be able to step in with a grant or a series of grants.
If the funding is secured, Clark said, they would like to see the program expand to more schools in the districts as well as different areas, such as immigrant legal issues.
“The model could be scaled and replicated, if we find other funds,” Clark said. “At the time, we have no resources for bilingual schools or expertise in the immigrant area.”
Eppler-Epstein noted also that the model of providing legal aid directly at schools is not a common one in the country, but that she hopes the Troup school clinic will be noticed and help to “spread this new model.”