Our Work

Securing equal justice for Massachusetts’ low-income children and youth since 1977.

 

Consistent with its mission, the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts (CLCM) aims to secure equal justice and maximize opportunity for low-income children and youth across the state by providing quality, culturally sensitive advocacy and legal services.

The CLCM provides a comprehensive array of legal representation in the areas of education, child welfare (abuse & neglect), immigration, juvenile justice, and various other matters such as mental health, insurance access, family-law related issues, and support to victims of crime.

The CLCM Statewide Helpline

The CLCM also operates a helpline through which it provides legal information, resources, and referrals to youth, parents, attorneys, and helping professionals. The helpline can be reached at 1-888-KIDLAW8 (1-888-543-5298) Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Bilingual assistance is subject to staff availability.

Through the helpline, the CLCM provides assistance to callers statewide relating to the rights of children and youth in the following areas:

child hand on top of open adult's hand

  • Education: includes special education, school discipline, restraint and seclusion, educational access, school enrollment, homelessness, etc.

  • Immigration: issues affecting unaccompanied minors, Special Immigrant Juvenile status, asylum, DACA, temporary protected status, visas, U-Visas, etc.

  • Child Welfare/Custody: abuse & neglect, matters pertaining to the Department of Children & Families (DCF), Care & Protection, Child Requiring Assistance (CRA), Aging-Out/Transition Age advocacy, Care & Responsibility, custody, guardianship, adoption, etc.

  • Juvenile Justice: information and referrals concerning delinquency, “youthful offender,” DYS-related matters, and juvenile justice appeals.

  • Other Legal Issues: includes access to health and mental health services, health insurance/Medicaid access, medical decision-making rights of minors, as well as questions confronting children involved with DCF, the Department of Youth Services (DYS), Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDS), Department of Mental Health (DMH), and other state institutions. 

The CLCM provides individual representation and related advocacy services to children in Essex County and Greater Boston, with an emphasis on Lynn, Lawrence, Chelsea, Salem and surrounding communities. For children to be deemed eligible for legal aid from the CLCM, families must meet income eligibility standards based on federal poverty guidelines.

The CLCM will consider requests for individual legal representation through its helpline for education, immigration, child victims of crime (CLAVC) and a limited number of other issues. Legal assistance for children in abuse and neglect (Care & Protection), delinquency/juvenile justice, and CRA cases can be made only through formal appointment by the Juvenile Court; we cannot accept such case requests through our helpline.

Please note: the CLCM does not provide legal assistance to children in divorce or private custody matters. It also does not represent parents or other adults over the age of 22.

Areas of Practice

Education

CLCM attorneys provide comprehensive legal aid to students in a range of education matters. Denial of enrollment, homelessness and residency disputes, school records/privacy, and school discipline are among the most common bases of legal aid. CLCM staff also represents students with disabilities in special education matters including eligibility for services, IEP negotiations, school discipline, and related systemic issues. As part of its education advocacy, the CLCM operates an innovative Medical-Legal Partnership through MGB-Chelsea Health Center. The endeavor is designed to identify health and other risk factors which may make Chelsea’s youth susceptible to educational obstacles. All aspects of our education aid is offered to Chelsea students through the initiative.

Immigration

The CLCM offers legal aid to immigrant children who are eligible for certain humanitarian protections, often due to past trauma. Virtually all face removal from the United States and forced returns to their homelands. Representation is offered to children seeking “special immigrant juvenile” (SIJ) status, asylum, temporary protected status, DACA, U-Visas and other related federal protections. As part of our legal assistance to immigrant children, CLCM attorneys also provide help in securing clients’ access to education, health care, and medical insurance, and ensuring that each child has a legal guardian or custodian. Advocacy is conducted on multiple levels, from local schools to the state and federal courts, the US Immigration Court, and the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS).

CLAVC

The CLAVC initiative was created through the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC) and is designed to provide civil legal help to victims of crime. In legal assistance programs across the Commonwealth such assistance can range from housing and state benefits advocacy to domestic violence and family law. At the CLCM, CLAVC attorneys and a paralegal have been providing scores of victimized children with legal help in education (e.g., bullying), abuse & neglect/child welfare, immigration and related family law matters.

Child Welfare

Child welfare at the CLCM covers legal topics connected to public and private services that are designed to protect children and encourage family stability. The work finds CLCM lawyers serving as legal counsel to children in Care & Protection (abuse & neglect) cases, representing youth in Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) matters, and advocating for foster children “aging out” of the Department of Children & Families (DCF) system, among other matters.

Juvenile Justice

CLCM lawyers represent children before the Essex County Juvenile Court in delinquency matters that arise when a child between the ages of 12 and 18 allegedly violates our criminal laws. Children in Massachusetts are entitled to the same, or similar, range of legal rights as adults when charged with a crime. CLCM advocacy focuses on protecting those rights through individual representation, but also can include appellate advocacy if deemed necessary.

Other Legal Representation

Beyond the above-named areas of law, the CLCM also provides individual representation to eligible children in a range of other cases. For example, CLCM has created a unit at the Law Center, entitiled Civil Legal Aid to Victims of Crime (CLAVC), which offers legal assistance to children who have experienced trauma or criminal offense. CLCM attorneys engage in an array of legal services to address the victimization. Other examples include legal aid to victims of domestic violence and assistance to incapacitated children requiring guardianships.