Education Advocacy

Children's Law Center attorneys provide comprehensive services to students with disabilities in restraint and seclusion, school discipline (suspension/expulsion), special education and related matters. The CLCM also advocates for non-disabled students in school discipline cases, and in education matters, including homelessness, residency, and school records. Education advocacy is conducted at the school, administrative (Bureau of Special Education Appeals) and court levels. Education cases are derived from the Law Center's help-line, walk-ins, and case referrals from the courts, schools, legal aid programs, youth-serving programs and other entities. CLCM attorneys also focus on systemic and policy change on the district and state level.

Areas of Practice

Education

Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP)

The Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) provides legal aid to children in Chelsea, Massachusetts who face barriers to educational access or are at risk for school exclusion–both involuntary (suspension or expulsion) and voluntary (dropout)–through a first-of-its-kind medical-legal partnership between the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts (CLCM) and Massachusetts General Brigham - Chelsea HealthCare Center (MGB-Chelsea).

MGB-Chelsea is the primary care provider for most of Chelsea’s nearly 6000 public school students, the majority of whom present with health challenges, trauma, and other risk factors making them susceptible to educational difficulties. MGB-Chelsea and CLCM are working together to improve educational outcomes for this vulnerable population by creating a medical-legal partnership focused on legal assistance for youth in need of educational advocacy. The partnership will identify problems at an early stage and work to facilitate a collaborative resolution between schools, families, and the student’s medical care team.