Chicago Family Advocacy Program: A Medical Legal Partnership for Children

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Chicago Family Advocacy Program A Medical Legal
Partnership for Children
MIE 2006 National Fundraising Conference Chicago,
Illinois Friday, July 14, 2006
Julie Justicz Health Disability
Advocates jjusticz_at_hdadvocates.org 708/567-9471
312/223-9600
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Why Develop a Medical-Legal Collaboration?

• Provides convenient point of entry for families
  one-stop shopping
• Addresses the compounding factors of medical risk
  and socio-economic disadvantage
• Employs a proactive model intervention before
  crisis
• Establishes a best practice model for providers
  doctors, lawyers, social workers learn from each
  other and patients benefit
• Helps families access broad range of social
  support services and developmental therapies

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Health Disability Advocates Project Access
2000-2004

• Pilot Project A Medical, Legal, Case Management
  Collaboration
• Very low birth weight infants or medically
  high-risk infants from neonatal intensive care
  unit (NICU) at two hospital sites (U of C
  Hospital and Mt. Sinai)
• Followed for one-year post-discharge in clinic
  setting
• Families of infants met regularly (2-4 weeks)
  with lawyer and case manager
• Received range of legal help
• Neonatal Infant Outcome Study (NIOS)
  Randomized-controlled study of project services

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What We Know

• Social factors exert a profound influence on the
  health of children -- housing impact, social
  stressors, etc.
• Early childhood is a critical period for brain
  development
• Effectiveness of early childhood intervention
  programs persists into school years
  difficulties with access to key programs

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What Medical Providers Tell Us

• Complex, unfamiliar social service systems make
  advocacy difficult, inefficient, and ineffective
• Social issues seem untreatable
• Medical treatments become irrelevant

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What We Face

• Awareness of the importance of social factors
• Recognition that access to health care and social
  services is paramount to good health
• Realism that resources to overcome social
  barriers are often beyond our reach

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NEW PROGRAMChicago Family Advocacy Program

• Medical and legal collaboration to assist
  families of infants and children with special
  health care needs builds on successes of Project
  Access expands patient base and range of
  services
• Start Date May 2006 at U of C
• Partners
• Health Disability Advocates
• Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan
  Chicago
• University of Chicago Comer Childrens
  Hospital/Center for Health Families Clinic
• Mt. Sinai
• Sinai Urban Health Institute
• McDermott Will Emery

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CFAP Legal Help for Families

• Lawyers meet families during medical clinic
  hours, assess cases, provide brief advice,
  referrals, counseling, or legal representation
• Lawyers take referrals from hospital social
  workers, medical providers and provide assistance
  to families
• Lawyers provide training, back-up and support to
  social workers and medical providers
• Lawyers conduct individual representation and
  administrative advocacy on range of civil issues

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CFAP Pro Bono Opportunities

• Provide on-site legal assistance at Center for
  Healthy Families (approximately 2 hours at
  Wednesday clinic). Meet families, conduct
  interview, provide advice, referral, or possibly
  take legal case.
• Accept CFAP pre-packaged case without going to
  clinic
• Assist with trainings/material preparations in
  various areas of law
• Conduct discrete research issue for CFAP
  attorneys

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Fundraising/Financing Ideas

• Collaboration opens doors to new set of funders
  child health funders hospital conversion funds
  bar foundations national funders
• One foundation connects you with others
• Support from hospitals clinics, medical schools,
  social work schools
• Public support targeted case management
  Medicaid reimbursement
• Pro Bono Support

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The Medical-Legal Partnership

• Valuable means for effective advocacy
• Addresses significance of social factors
• Places solutions to social barriers within reach
• Increases the return on our initial investment
• Improves overall health of highest risk infants