Iowa Legal Aid Reaching Out to Young People
by: Iowa Legal Aid
December 2003
Last July, the Southwest Regional Office of Iowa Legal Aid began a program to address the needs of young people. Called the Youth Link Project, the program involves a joint effort by Iowa Legal Aid attorneys, social service agencies, local school administrators, teachers and counselors, and Juvenile Court Services to help young people with potential legal problems. The premise behind the program is that young people often face problems with issues such as poverty, divorce, custody, school performance, abuse and neglect, and teen pregnancy. Many of these young people lack the family support or resources to put them in touch with agencies and organizations that may be able to assist them. The goal of the Youth Link Project is to send Iowa Legal Aid attorneys out into the community to work with the various organizations and school officials to provide legal assistance and advice to young people to ensure their continued growth and development.
Preparing Youth to Become Productive Adults
The Youth Link is designed to provide services youth need to assist them in becoming productive adults contributing to their community. Often youth are at crossroads where decisions made and services provided will have long-term consequences. By helping students stay in school, they have a better chance of becoming successful adults.
The first phase of the Youth Link Project was for Iowa Legal Aid lawyers to create booklets on the various legal issues young people face. Thanks to help from a grant by the Iowa West Foundation, three booklets have already been printed. A fourth booklet is soon to be published. These booklets have been passed out to various agencies, school officials, and the young people themselves.
The second phase was for Iowa Legal Aid lawyers to increase awareness of the Youth Link Project. Attorneys went out into the community to speak with various social service agencies and school officials who have regular contact with young people. The response from these agencies and officials has been very supportive. As result, young people have been referred to Iowa Legal Aid for help. Iowa legal Aid attorneys have also been visiting schools in the Council Bluffs area to talk to classes about the Youth Link Project. The lawyers also go to the schools to speak one-on-one with students.
Through the Youth Link Project, Iowa Legal Aid has been able to represent a number of young people with legal problems:
- A 17-year-old high school student received help in a custody action to start getting child support from the father. This legal assistance will provide the financial resources for her to achieve her goal of finishing high school and going on to college.
- Another high school student's father had a long history of alcohol abuse and being unable to provide adequate housing for his family. After being evicted from his most recent residence, he was forcing his daughter to live with seven other people in a friend's one-bedroom apartment. As a result, she ran away to live with relatives. Iowa Legal Aid was able to obtain safe and stable housing for her with her uncle by establishing him as her legal guardian.
- Iowa Legal Aid succeeded in persuading a local government housing agency to allow a 17-year-old single mother to fill out a housing application after she was initially denied by the agency due to her age. Securing shelter is a basic need with which young clients may need assistance to provide a safe environment for their families.
With continued funding and the ongoing cooperation of local agencies and school officials, Iowa Legal Aid will continue to expand the Youth Link Project. The effort was recently given a boost with a $6,000 grant from The Dodge Trust. The goal is to reach even more young people with the message that legal assistance is available to all citizens, regardless of age and financial circumstances.
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