LEGAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN INC

Target demographics: Youth between 12-18 years old

Geographic areas served: San Francisco Bay Area (including the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo)

Programs: Every year more than 1,500 low-income Bay Area youth turn to Legal Services for Children (LSC) and the legal system at a time of crisis in their lives. Some of these young people do not have stable homes. They may be homeless, thinking about running away, or living in a shelter. Many are unable to live with their parents for reasons that include death, illness, incarceration, substance abuse, physical violence, and sexual abuse. Our immigrant clients have fled their home countries and come to the U.S. on their own in order to escape abuse, neglect, violence, persecution, and unimaginable poverty. Some of our clients are in trouble at school, failing academically, and about to be expelled. Still other clients are at-risk for juvenile justice involvement. Our comprehensive legal advocacy is designed around several core practice areas that empower young people to take an active role in the decisions that affect their lives: Guardianship – For families devastated by abuse, neglect, incarceration, substance abuse, or death, establishing legal guardianship for children with another family member or caring adult is often the best solution to avoid homelessness and keep children out of foster care. In many cases, children can maintain contact with their parents through careful safety planning and families can be reunified after parents are back on their feet. Foster care – As members of San Francisco's Dependency Panel, our attorneys and social workers advocate for foster care clients to ensure stable placements, appropriate education, and other support services. Immigration – Annually we provide Know-Your-Rights presentations, legal screening, and general information and referrals to immigrant youth who are currently detained in ICE facilities or have been released, and youth who are in danger of being detained. Our staff represent unaccompanied detained children on the monthly immigration court docket, and we provide full scope legal representation for children in claims for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (for abused, abandoned, or neglected children), U-Visas (for witnesses and victims of serious crime), T-Visas (for victims of trafficking), and asylum. Education – Through its comprehensive legal service model, LSC strives to improve scholastic outcomes for and enhance educational opportunities of low-income youth under the age of 18 in the San Francisco Bay Area. We provide legal representation for youth—a disproportionate number of who are children of color—who are unfairly facing expulsion from school and/or whose behavioral problems are the result of unaddressed learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, or problems at home. LSC is the only organization providing free legal representation to youth in discipline matters. Our event sponsors, like all of LSC's donors, know that their philanthropic investment in LSC makes a tangible difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth. LSC's staff team includes 8 attorneys (including our Executive Director and Managing Attorney), 5 social workers (including our Clinical Director) and 3 paraprofessionals. The program staff is supported by an administrative team that includes a Development Director and Development Associate, an Office Manager, an Administrative Coordinator, and a part time Finance Manager. This lean staff team ensures that 91¢ of every dollar we spend goes directly to program services. More than half of our staff are bilingual (Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese) and represents a wide range of cultural identities and backgrounds. We also coordinate a panel of more than 100 attorneys from private law firms throughout the Bay Area. These volunteer attorneys significantly leverage LSC resources and annually contribute more than 2,500 pro bono hours and handle over 100 client cases under our supervision.