by Andrea L. Smith and Ben P. Davis

The Elder Law and Disability Rights Center (ELDR) promotes dignity and independence for low-income seniors, people with disabilities, and their families as they age through access to legal services and education by serving those whose needs are not met with traditional legal services. Opening its doors in 2017, ELDR is committed to assisting with end-of-life planning, removing barriers to housing, employment and education, as well as empowering clients to better advocate for themselves. We partner with homeless shelters, outreach providers, religious communities, hospitals, and more to find and meet our clients’ needs. To increase the impact of our small but mighty staff, ELDR enlists support from dedicated volunteers, attorneys, law students, and community organizers.

With the help of pro bono attorneys, ELDR began offering free legal services to families whose children have developmental disabilities. The pro bono support provided was critical to the success of this program. Every student deserves access to a free and equal education (Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004)). As ELDR began to provide these services with help of attorneys like you, we discovered a community that had never been empowered with information about their rights, some districts that had never been held accountable to meet the needs of low-income or non-English speaking families, and parents at their wits’ end, desperate to ensure their children had access to an adequate education.

When the project began, two families contacted ELDR for help. Both families had teenagers who struggled in school from a young age. The children were often labeled “behavior problems” and the parents didn’t know where to turn. Both families were denied interpreters by their schools and struggled with limited English language skills to understand each school’s plan and communicate their child’s needs. By high school, the children were operating at first-grade level. They were often fleeing school because of the emotional and educational struggle of being unable to keep up. And the parents knew the children had the capacity to do so much more but did not know how to help. Then, the parents learned about the pro bono services offered by ELDR and our partners.

ELDR immediately reached out to an attorney to seek pro-bono assistance. Together, we gathered and reviewed documents, got to know the families, and learned about the children’s potential. It turned out the school’s initial assessment misdiagnosed both children at such a young age that they never received the appropriate services. The problem wasn’t the children, or the parents—it was an erroneous assessment that caused years of improper services. Because of the pro bono support, the families finally obtained accurate assessments, appropriate support in school, and interpreters in meetings with the school. The children began to work toward reaching their potential with the education plans they needed.

Our excellent pro-bono counsel didn’t stop there. They stayed with the family, monitored the process, and attended the follow-up meetings. When the school districts failed to implement the recommendations of the experts to meet the needs of the children, the pro bono counsel was there to attend follow-up meetings with the schools and advocate for the necessary changes to ensure the school met the needs of these two students based on the corrected assessments. Without the extended commitment of the pro-bono counsel, the victories would have been illusory. Now, the students attend school regularly, and can catch up to grade level—even graduate high school. Students with high school diplomas are far more likely to obtain employment and succeed.

In another case, a five-year-old was denied special education evaluations which led to being labeled a “behavior problem.” Despite being only five, when the child acted out the teacher brought in a police officer who, tragically, used physical force against the child. That child became afraid of anyone in a uniform and acted out even more. Despite his young age, the child was expelled. The ELDR Center was able to match the parents with a pro bono attorney. The pro bono attorney successfully demanded the school change its practices and immediately assess the child. Because of the quick and effective work of this volunteer attorney, the child was properly assessed and obtained the necessary support to succeed in school. Although the child is still impacted by the trauma of the expulsion, he is now in school working toward catching up to grade level.

Marginalized and low-income families whose children have developmental disabilities rely on resources like ELDR and our pro bono partners to address systemic challenges. By advocating for students who might otherwise be left behind, we help families build a more equitable education system and empower students to reach their full potential. After litigation led to one child moving up three grade levels in just a few months with appropriate services, a mother expressed immense relief saying, “I feel like I have a new child.”

Another critical need for low-income and marginalized families whose children have developmental disabilities is access to assistance through the Limited Conservatorship process. Once the child turns eighteen, they are an adult to their banks, doctors, teachers, and any other entity the individual interacts with. Yet, some children with developmental disabilities are not able to communicate, understand, or give informed consent for medical care or educational decisions. They may not have the capacity to choose their own housing or to work. Even life-saving medical procedures can be a challenge for families when their children become adults. A limited conservatorship allows a court to evaluate the need and make the difficult decisions that a child lacks capacity—transferring the ability to make these life changing decisions from the child to their parent or guardian. But the limited conservatorship process is complicated. It requires dozens of pages of court forms to be completed correctly, and in English. Like access to education, this creates an additional hurdle for families who speak limited English.

Beginning in August 2024, Rebecca France (a University of California Irvine School of Law graduate) joined ELDR as an Equal Justice Works Fellow Sponsored by Morrison Foerster, to build a clinic and address this need for Orange County over the coming years. Through partnerships with Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, and other community-based groups, ELDR will offer full-day clinics to match families with pro bono attorneys and complete this process in just one day. This will give pro bono attorneys an opportunity to touch a family’s life, help families to navigate a complicated process in one day instead of many months, and ensure that their children will transition to adulthood without losing access to medical care.

Families who had nowhere to turn will have help and hope. At the clinics, families will arrive in the morning and meet with a lawyer and law student team. The pro bono team will prepare the documents over the next few hours while the family attends a presentation on what to expect as well as watches a court-required video. By lunch, the pro bono lawyers will have prepared the documents and will meet with the families to review, finalize, and sign them all. And when they leave, the families will have peace of mind knowing they have taken the necessary steps to ensure their child will be cared for. The caretakers will learn what to expect in the process over the coming few months, how to navigate the court system, and will have the dignity and independence that comes with that information and guidance. The pro bono teams will have the option to stay with the family through the process, or hand the case off to ELDR at the end of the clinic day. Either way, these volunteers will change lives.

If you are looking for a pro bono opportunity, this clinic may be the perfect way for you to get involved. You can sign up today for training by emailing info@eldrcenter.org. Simply request to join the list for clinic registration. In just one Saturday, you could change a child’s life!

Andrea L. Smith is a staff attorney coordinating the Disability Justice Law and Organizing Project at the Elder Law and Disability Rights (ELDR) Center. She can be reached at asmith@eldrcenter.org. Ben P. Davis is a pro-bono development attorney with ELDR, and can be reached at bdavis@eldrcenter.org.