LEGAL AID SERVICE
OF BROWARD COUNTY

About Legal Aid

Services

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY PROJECT

The Team-Child Project is designed to help juveniles who are at risk of entering or have entered the juvenile justice system. Legal Aid Service of Broward County (LAS) attorneys want to help these children turn their lives around. The project identifies the contributing factors to the child's delinquency and provides representation in civil and administrative matters. Legal Aid can also assist the family.

The Dependency Law Project provides legal representation to dependent children in foster care who are victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment. The goal is to give voice to the children's express wishes and to ensure that they receive the rights, entitlements, benefits and services they are entitled to under state and federal law.

 

The Children's Education Legal Rights Project provides legal representation to students with needs that are not being met in the school system because of a learning disability, physical, mental or emotional disability, other health impairment, or other disabling condition under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA ensures that all children with disabilities affecting their education have available to them a free and appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment and independent living. Legal Aid attorneys provide services that include:

  • assisting students in receiving timely testing, IDEA eligibility determinations, and proper placement,
  • ensuring the student receives appropriate and effective special education services in a timely manner,
  • attendance and representation of students at individual education plan (IEP) meetings,
  • representation at administrative hearings and due process hearings and in litigation when necessary,
  • obtaining independent psychological evaluations from professionals outside the school system, and, 
  • referrals as appropriate to outside social service organizations.

Intake Specialist:    Nilsy Roman
                                 Telephone: (954) 736.2413

Legal Assistant:      Coretta McClain
                                954-736-2411

Project Attorneys:  Ann Siegel, Esq.
                                Telephone: (954) 736.2405

                                Rochelle Marcus, Esq.
                                Telephone: (954) 736.2403

 

Legal Aid Service of Broward County, Inc. expanded their Child Advocacy Project in 2006 with the Kinship Project. The Kinship Project, funded by the Children Services Council of Broward County, provides free legal assistance to eligible relative caregivers who reside in Broward County, Florida. The Kinship Project was created to meet the social and legal needs of relative caregivers and the child(ren) they are caring for to establish and/or maintain stability of the caregiver's home. Stability will be established through Petitions for Temporary Custody by Extended Family, Guardianships, and Adoptions. The goal of the project is to ensure the success of the caregiver household be reducing the stress and anxiety of the relative caregiver and minor child(ren).

Additionally, in collaboration with Kids In Distress, the Kinship Project will assist relative caregivers, the children, and their households in obtaining assistance in the following areas:

  • Access to health care and mental health services for the children and their caregivers;
  • Assistance in navigating the school system;
  • Information and legal assistance in obtaining public benefits;
  • An assessment of every family to determine legal and social needs of caregiver, children and household;
  • Legal assistance with establishing custody, age restricted housing, respite care, advanced directives, wills, living wills and trusts;
  • Supporting the kinship household with additional services available in the community such as respite care and children's activities.

For more information please contact the Kinship Project at Legal Aid. Remember you are not alone, and we are here to help.

 

CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY UNIT

 

Helpful Websites:

 

Dependency Project

ChildNet
Henderson - case management and mental health
Public Bus system
Tri-Rail Train

 

Education Legal Rights Project

Broward County Schools
WrightsLaw Special Education Law Resources
Family Network on Disabilities of Florida
Broward Community College
Agency for Person with Disabilities
State Department of Education

Kids In Distress
Broward County Schools
Court information and self help forms
Florida Kinship Center
The Casey Foundation
Department of Corrections - inmate and predator locator
Broward County Sheriff- inmate locator

 

Team Child Project

Department of Juvenile Justice
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
First Call for Help
Henderson - case management and mental health
Covenant House runaway shelter and information
Youth Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment

 

OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES:

First Call for Help
Henderson - case management and mental health
Covenant House Runaway Shelter and Information
Youth Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment
Children's Services Council of Broward
Broward County
Department of Vocational Rehabilitation
Driver's License Information
Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program
Department of Children and Families including online public assistance application