Complex issues with a legal component often keep teenagers from
taking full advantage of the educational opportunities available
to them.)Teens may be dealing with abusive parents, homelessness,
special education needs, or immigration issues. They might be
teen parents and need financial assistance so they can finish
high school, or be living in a shelter without transportation
to school.
The Center for Children's Advocacy established the
Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic (TLAC) in 1998. The first office was
on site at Hartford Public High School, making it one of six school-based
legal services programs in the country at that time. After more
than ten years, the TLAC has expanded to provide legal services
to youth in all Hartford schools. In 2007, the TLAC opened on
site at Harding High School in Bridgeport, and in 2010 the TLAC
began work with Stamford students.
Attorneys with the Center’s Teen Legal Clinic also
bring services and support directly to youth who live in shelters
throughout the state, and to youth working with other community
agencies
Our legal staff and law students provide legal advice
and representation to teenagers in an effort to help them solve
the crises in their lives that cause them to drop out of school.
TLAC publications on these
issues are linked below. The types of cases and questions include:
-
Abuse and Neglect
What are my rights if my parents are abusive?
-
Educational Rights of Homeless Students
Can I stay in the school I was in before
I moved to the shelter?
-
Education/Special Education
What are my options if I’m not doing well
in school?
-
Emancipation
Can I live independently from my parents?
-
Immigration
Can I stay in this country legally?
-
Legal Rights of Teen Fathers
How can I establish paternity? How can
I spend time with my child?
-
Legal Rights of Teen Mothers
How do I get a court order to get child
support? Does my school have to provide a tutor when I leave
to have my baby?
-
Reproductive Health Care Rights
If I am a minor, do I need the permission
of my parent or guardian to go to a clinic?
-
Running Away from Home and Truancy
Will I get locked up if I run away from
home? Can I be locked up for missing a lot of school?
-
Sexual Assault
My boyfriend/girlfriend is older than me.
Is that legal? What are my rights if I was sexually assaulted?
- State and Federal Benefits
Is it true that I have to be emancipated
before I can get cash assistance? Can you help me get the benefits
that I was denied?
Systemic Advocacy
Individual cases expose systemic issues. Through
administrative and legislative advocacy, CCA attorneys promote
changes to policies and practices that will benefit the largest
number of teens, including:
-
Legal Rights of Runaway and Homeless
Youth
-
Legal Rights of Teens in Shelters, Group
Homes, and Residential Facilities
-
Education Services to Pregnant Students
throughout the School System
- Services to Abused and Neglected Teens
through State Agencies including DCF, DMHAS, and DDS
Training
The Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic provides trainings
for teens and for professionals working with teens throughout
the state.
Trainings for teens help youth understand their
legal rights and know how to advocate for themselves when issues
arise. These trainings often include education on legal issues
and the contacts in agencies who can help teens resolve their
legal problems.
Professional trainings help attorneys, child advocates
and agency or placement personnel who work with teens recognize
and respond appropriately to legal issues affecting teens. Training
topics include statutory rape, the legal rights of teens in foster
care, the legal rights of teens in group placements, teens' access
to state and federal benefits, the educational rights of homeless
children and youth, and immigration laws affecting teens.
Publications and Links
Publications
and links on teen legal topics, including Adolescent Health
Care, Benefits and Child Support, Medical Coverage, Detention,
Emancipation, Immigration, Pregnant and Parenting Teens, Runaway
and Homeless Youth, Education, Teen Dating Violence, Rights in
DCF Care.
Stories from the TLAC
Names and descriptive information have been
changed to preserve our client's confidentiality
Baya, born in Nigeria, lost
her mother when she was only six months old.
Baya was cared for by her maternal grandmother, but when she was
eight, her grandmother died and her father, whom she had never
met, arranged to bring her to his home in the U.S. to take over
her care. Within a short time, both her father and stepmother
were physically abusing her. Following custom, other members of
the Nigerian community intervened and assumed Baya's care. Baya's
father turned over her documents and ceased all support and contact
with her.
Baya always assumed that there was no way she could
get legal status in this country and never sought any assistance
to address the matter. She became an exceptional student, earning
money during high school by winning writing competitions, becoming
valedictorian of her class, and receiving a full, private scholarship
to a prestigious university.
Just before her 18th birthday, Baya mentioned her
situation to someone in the international student office at her
university, who referred her to the United States Commission on
Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). The USCRI thought she might qualify
for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status and referred her to
the Center for Children's Advocacy's Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic.
CCA determined that Baya clearly qualified for commitment
to DCF, a prerequisite for SIJ status (which leads to green card).
Although she had been functionally adopted by another couple,
she was never legally adopted, and she was inarguably abused and
abandoned by her only living legal guardian. Although Baya had
a full college scholarship, she had no money for clothes, no housing
outside of the school year or during holidays, and was subject
to constant risk of deportation to a country where she knows no
one.
Because of the short time before her 18th birthday,
CCA immediately filed a neglect petition in juvenile court and
got a hearing date. (Under Connecticut law, children can only
be committed to DCF before they turn 18, but once committed can
remain voluntarily in DCF care provided they are in college. Because
federal immigration law deems children minors until they turn
21, this leaves a three-year window for SIJ petitions.)
In conversations prior to the hearing, DCF told
CCA that they would oppose Baya's commitment because she was too
close to her 18th birthday, because she had not really been neglected,
and because she was doing too well on her own to need the Department's
help. None of these arguments has any basis in law..
CCA's legal advocacy means that Baya will receive
DCF support until she graduates, and she can now file for Special
Immigrant Juvenile Status and become a Lawful Permanent Resident
of the United States.
Shantel
Shantel's case began as an educational case. However, it quickly
became clear that she needed much more advocacy in order to change
the course of her young life. As a mentally retarded 18 year old,
with little to no family or community support, Shantel needed
advocacy on several different fronts. These included assistance
with applying for, and appealing an improper denial of, Supplemental
Security Income, and assistance in accessing services from the
Connecticut Department of Mental Retardation. In addition, the
Center also helped her to apply for, and appeal an improper delay
in the receipt of cash benefits from the Connecticut Department
of Social Services as well as advocated for her rights to educational
stability as a homeless student under the federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act.
Faced with her mental disability and the debilitating
effects of domestic violence, Shantel's life was in crisis when
we met her. She did not know how to navigate the many bureaucracies
involved in her life to effectuate her legal rights. She was also
moving from shelter to shelter on a frequent basis, which made
it difficult for her to manage her day-to-day living.
Through the Legal Clinic's aggressive advocacy,
the Director ensured that Shantel was able to remain at Hartford
Public High School, and receive transportation to and from school,
while she moved around from shelter to shelter. The Legal Clinic
successfully advocated for an appropriate vocational educational
program by filing for a hearing at the State Department of Education.
The result of which was a settlement agreement for a private program
to work with her on a 1:1 basis. Through the Clinic's administrative
advocacy, the Director also navigated her stalled application
for cash benefits before it was officially denied at the Department
of Social Services, thus avoiding the further delay of a hearing
and getting the benefits for she and her family sooner. Lastly,
the Clinic is addressing her long-term financial needs by sheparding
the reversal of an improper denial of assistance from the Social
Security Administration to ensure that Shantel's disability-based
entitlement to cash assistance is met.
Tamara
Tamara was referred to the Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic by a social
worker at Hartford Public High School. The social worker referred
her to the Clinic because Tamara had been living in a temporary
shelter under the care of the Department of Children and Families
(DCF) for four months. The social worker was especially concerned
that Tamara was going to run away due to the length of time she
had been waiting for an appropriate placement, the untenable conditions
in the shelter, and the lack of responsiveness from her DCF worker.
The Legal Clinic Director met with Tamara and immediately began
advocating for her legal rights.
First, the Legal Clinic began by calling up the
chain of command at DCF to administratively advocate that Tamara
be placed in an appropriate placement. Because of the Clinic's
experience with other youth who had overstayed in shelters under
the care of DCF, the Director was very much aware that shelter
stays were intended to be no more than 45 days. The Director worked
closely with DCF Central Office staff to make them aware of Tamara's
length of stay, and to monitor efforts being made at the regional
office to find an appropriate placement.
Next, the Legal Clinic worked closely with Tamara's
court-appointed lawyer to provide technical assistance on matters
including the conditions at the shelter and enforcing Tamara's
right to educational stability under the federal McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act. Concerns at the shelter included inappropriate
treatment by staff members, unduly restrictive rules, and lack
of follow-up for appropriate health care. With the Clinic's assistance,
Tamara's lawyer became aware of these issues and of her legal
rights. She then used this information to advocate for Tamara
in Juvenile Court.
Lastly, the Clinic addressed the systemic concern
by proposing legislation to address the problem of overstays in
youth emergency placements on a statewide level. The Director
wrote a bill which would have limited the length of stay for youth
in such placements, provided court oversight when overstays occurred,
and created a task force to study the problem. Tamara herself
testified at the hearing saying, "It wasn't my fault that I had
to live in a shelter, so I didn't understand why people were treating
me this way. I wish that I would have been treated like a normal
person who has feelings." Although the legislation did not pass,
it was an important tool for raising awareness of the plight of
youth such as Tamara and the need for further reform.
News and Press from the TLAC
Bridgeport’s
Illegal Night School Program Closed to Secure Appropriate Education
for High School Students
For more information about
the Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic, contact:
Stacey Violante Cote, Esq.
Director, Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic
Center for Children's Advocacy, Inc.
sviolant@kidscounsel.org
(860) 570-5327
Deborah Marcuse, Esq.
Staff Attorney, Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic
Center for Children's Advocacy
dmarcuse@kidscounsel.org
(203) 223-8975
