The Florida Model Approaches Project

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The Florida Model Approaches Project

• A Partnership between
• the Florida Department of Elder Affairs
• Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.
• The Florida Bar Foundation
• Florida Area Agencies on Aging and
• Floridas IIIB-funded Legal Aid/Legal Services
  Providers

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Project Objectives

• Objective 1
• Enhanced access to legal services through the
  Senior Legal Helpline and Aging Resource Centers
• Objective 2
• Improvement of quality of referrals to needed
  services
• Objective 3
• Coordination with the aging network
• Objective 4
• Coordination with the pro bono network
• Objective 5
• Coordination with self-help legal resources
• Objective 6
• Development of statewide standards to ensure
  consistent levels of quality among and between
  legal providers
• Objective 7
• Establish a meaningful statewide reporting system
• Objective 8
• Targeting services to those most in need

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Overview of the Centralized Telephone Intake
Unit at Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.

• Types of hotlines by funding source and service
  area
• The Legal Aid Line is an LSC/Title III helpline
  serving a 5-county region
• The Florida Senior Legal Helpline is a statewide
  helpline funded by the Florida Dept. of Elder
  Affairs through a Model Approaches grant, and
  with IOTA funding.
• Referrals for extended services for each helpline
  are made after consulting the appropriate
  Referral Matrix for that program.
• Matrix developed with input from relevant
  partners either non-LSC or bar-funded regional
  partners (Legal Aid Line), or IIIB-funded
  agencies throughout the state (Florida Senior
  Legal Helpline)

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Applying for Services

• Eligibility and Scheduling
• Applicants dial separate toll-free numbers to be
  screened for eligibility and scheduled through
  the CTI Screening Unit
• Screeners identify problem code, check for
  potential conflicts, note deadlines and enter
  descriptive details as appropriate
• LSC-eligibility is reviewed and noted for
  applicants to both Helplines
• Applicants are scheduled call-back appointments
  within 2-7 days of screening
• Verifying/Completing the Application
• Advocates call applicants at appointed times
• Advocates obtain limited confidentiality waiver
  required by LSC and inform applicants of their
  appeal rights
• Advocates verify income/asset information and
  check for additional opposing parties

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Intake and Referral

• Conducting Intake
• Applicants to the Senior Legal Helpline are
  provided legal advice and brief services
  regardless of LSC financial eligibility
• Advocates record facts/what client wants/advice
  given in Legal Server.
• Attorneys new to the Helpline and all paralegals
  timely submit for supervisor review prior to
  closure.
• Advocates create new/separate applications when
  clients report new/separate legal issues during
  intake.
• Case Disposition
• Advocates inform client of case action after
  supervisor review.
• CTI files with documented advice and brief
  services may only be closed to A or B (brief
  services now called limited action)
• Limited action cases are those where advice has
  been given AND the advocate has done something
  more.
• Files for over-income clients lt60 must be
  disposed of by an x code if the client is a
  no-show for the office appointment and cannot be
  assigned to a different grant.
• Project manager and experienced attorneys
  determine whether regional or statewide referrals
  are available after consulting the appropriate
  Referral Matrix.
• Cases transferred to a partner agency to be
  considered for extended representation are closed
  to our program with advice or limited action.

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• Statewide Legal Partnership Project
• Maximizing Resources
• To Increase Legal Assistance for
• Underserved Seniors

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State of Florida

• 67 Counties
• 4,157,824 residents age 60 and older
• 11 Planning Service Areas, each
• with its own Area Agency on Aging
• 16 Legal Partners

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Referral Process

• All clients receive legal advice over the
  telephone from an experienced elder law advocate
  (attorney or paralegal).
• If a client needs further legal assistance -
  including extended representation - the case is
  forwarded to the teams managing attorney to be
  evaluated according to the Senior Legal Helpline
  Referral Matrix.
• Each Title IIIB legal services provider sets the
  referral criteria for their agency. Criteria
  vary depending upon the resources in that region.
  Those referral priorities are then added to the
  Matrix.
• Approved referrals are faxed to a designated
  contact person in the Title IIIB-funded or other
  appropriate program in the clients county of
  residence. The SLH case is then closed.

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Matrix Examples

• Meritorious cases for ______ and _____ Co.
  residents should be faxed to the director of
  _______, regardless of client income and assets.
  Non-priority divorce cases may also be referred
  for the programs biweekly divorce clinic. If
  case is an emergency, call the director first,
  then fax. In his absence referrals should be
  faxed to the managing attorney.
• As a general rule, clients referred to any
  ______ office should be at or near LSC
  guidelines. Do not refer consumer cases unless
  they involved impact litigation. Referrals
  should be faxed to the attention of _______.
  Clients should be told they can expect to hear
  from a _______ representative w/in 10 days.
  Emergency referrals should first be made by
  telephone to ______. A fax should then be sent
  on the same day with a notation as to the
  deadline and that an immediate response is
  necessary.
• ______ will be referring non-priority callers to
  their offices to the Helpline. However,
  lower-income callers with legal problems in the
  areas of health, housing, consumer, public
  benefits, naturalization and divorces/injunctions
  (DV victims only) may be referred back to
  _______. No services are available for advance
  directives.

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Building Partnerships2006 to the present

• Contacted legal services/legal aid programs
  throughout Florida to develop the initial
  Statewide Referral Matrix for legal provider
  partners by January 2006. The Matrix sets out
  priority guidelines for referring Senior clients
  to IIIB-funded programs - as well as those with
  no IIIB funding - in each of Floridas 11
  Planning Service Areas.
• Awarded a grant from the National Legal Training
  Project at AARP and partnered with them to
  provide a free 2-day substantive legal training
  at Stetson Law College in February 2006. Elder
  law advocates statewide were invited to attend.
  Topics included predatory mortgage and consumer
  lending, and working effectively with elderly
  clients.
• Engaged in targeted promotional efforts during
  2006 - 2008 to reach underserved Seniors
  throughout the state. Activities included
  mailing SLH brochures and posters to the
  directors of each Area Agency on Aging writing
  legal education pieces for DOEAs Elder Update
  publication and providing presentations at
  provider meetings in 7 of the 11 Planning and
  Service Areas.

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• Received a DOEA minigrant in May of 2007 to hire
  law school summer interns to update the 2002 AARP
  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The interns
  research was compiled to create informational
  mailouts on a variety of consumer issues
  addressed in the FAQs and identified through the
  Helpline, and a Consumer Tips brochure mailed
  in bulk to AAA and IIIB partners.
• Integrated the SLH informational mailouts and
  other substantive and procedural materials into a
  CTI computer desktop manual available to
  advocates conducting Helpline intake. Relevant
  topic mailouts can then be accessed by any
  advocate and included with the closing letter
  they send to their clients.
• Identified several legal issues common throughout
  the state, including the Medicare retroactive
  disenrollment maze the lack of response from law
  enforcement to the financial exploitation of
  Seniors from contractors as well as from
  acquaintances and creditors suing to collect on
  stale debts.

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• Helpline staff participated in reviewing
  questions for the Florida Legal Needs Survey
  proof-read sections of the Older Floridians
  Handbook and completed a 1-year cycle of
  gathering client satisfaction data for the Legal
  Helpline. The majority of survey responses
  indicated a high level of satisfaction with
  Helpline services. The number one reason for
  dissatisfaction has been the lack of additional
  resources available to the Seniors after they
  have received legal advice and brief services.
• Helpline staff participated in DOEAs Communities
  for a Lifetime forums in 2008 and a televised
  Town Hall Meeting last May on caregiving for the
  elderly. Partners included the Secretary for
  DOEA various AAA directors and social services
  providers for Seniors.
• To better identify the disparity in legal
  resources, Helpline staff have developed outcome
  referral forms to track services provided to
  Seniors referred to III-B partners. Helpline
  staff are also working to incorporate additional
  pro se and pro bono resources into the Statewide
  Matrix.
• Cases closed increased from 1119 in 2007 to 1859
  in 2008, with a significant increase in
  LSC-eligible Seniors served 18 to 35.

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Statewide Planning MeetingsApril 2008

• Identified strengths and weaknesses of current
  system, along with opportunities for improvement
• Next Steps
• Cross-training
• Services available through aging network
• What should constitute a legal referral, and what
  are emerging legal issues impacting seniors
• Develop targeting standards to ensure most
  vulnerable are served
• Look at funding sources and how these dollars can
  be leveraged to support elder law specialization
  in local legal aid programs
• Strengthen referral system to determine success
  of referrals

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