Florida Bar's Family Law Section Boosts Legal Aid for Children

The Family Law Section of the Florida Bar has donated $75,000 to support childrens legal services in the state.

The gift of private funds, in response to the impending loss of legal aid attorney positions throughout Florida, will help support legal services for low-income children, such as foster children and those in need of access to medical, mental health and special education services.

"A core mission of the Family Law Section is to be at the forefront of efforts to protect childrens rights," said David Manz, chair of the section. "We are proud to be able to provide this contribution to the Foundations Childrens Legal Services Grant Program."

About 25 childrens advocates currently working at legal aid organizations around Florida have been supported by these grants. The Foundation estimated that without additional resources, the jobs of 10 or more of those attorneys will be at risk in the next three years due to ongoing funding cuts.

The $2.8 million the Foundation distributed to 23 legal aid programs through its Childrens Legal Services Grant Program in 2010 was cut by 21 percent in 2011. The Foundation used funds from its reserve to prevent even deeper cuts, but with the reserve fund expected to run out in 2014, the Foundation expects to have to cut total childrens legal services grant funding to $1.25 million by 2013.

This would represent further cuts to the program of 55 percent over three years, resulting in a 54 percent drop in the number of cases handled for children, which was some 1,000 fewer cases than were handled in 2010, the Family Law Section reported.