CONNECTICUT LAWYERS FOR CHILDREN AMERICA

The facts are startling: Child abuse and neglect impacted over 11,200 Connecticut-region youngsters, newborn to age 18, during 2005.  Too many of these youngsters will become involved in either the juvenile or criminal justice system as a result, unless organizations like Lawyers for Children America, Inc. (LFCA) act on their behalf.

Supported by a two-year, $100,000 grant in 2007 by the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health), the LFCA in Connecticut is helping children like these receive the medical and mental health services they need, as well as the loving, nurturing environments necessary to grow into healthy adults.

Part of a nationwide organization, the Connecticut LFCA recruits and trains volunteer lawyers to provide abused and neglected children with pro bono representation.  The 2007 CT Health grant will enable the LFCA to:

• Help nearly 200 new children annually
• Continue supporting over 270 Connecticut children in open legal cases

Since the Connecticut LFCA began in 1995, it has:

• Represented over 800 abused and neglected children, mostly African-American and Latino 
• Trained about 450 attorneys from over 75 of the region's top law firms, more than 80 percent of whom remain with the state's LFCA program for five years or more

"Our volunteer attorneys each donate hundreds of hours annually to their LFCA casework, and become political as well as legal advocates for these children" says Priscilla Pappadia, Connecticut LFCA executive director. 

"The program also gives these attorneys a unique opportunity to become involved in meaningful, challenging pro bono work, while raising the legal community's awareness of these children's needs."

Website: www.lawyersforchildrenamerica.org