“Community Legal Aid became a savior for my family”

GREENFIELD — At their Ashfield home, Karla Clarke was splitting wood with her then-husband, James, when he smacked her across the face, leaving reddened impressions on her skin, to get her to shut up.

It was the last straw.

For 11 years, she had endured her husband belittling her and calling her stupid. What was worse, she said, was how he treated her three young children.

“I thought you’re not going to do this to my kids,” Clarke said.

He would shoot the twin brothers and daughter with rubber bands, whip them with towels and thump them on the head.

Clarke had met James, who died five years ago, when she was 35 years old while getting a haircut at a friend’s house in South Deerfield.

“Three months later, we were married,” Clarke said.

Within one year, they had three kids — two twin boys, Jay and James, and a daughter, Kendra.

“It was a whirlwind,” Clarke said.

At the bus stop one October morning 14 years ago, he picked his daughter up by her backpack. Later that day, the state Department of Children and Families arrived at their home.

“I knew I needed to get out,” Clarke said.

Clarke took herself and her three children, who were 10, 10, and 9, at the time, to her family’s home in South Deerfield. At her parents’ house, she called Western Mass. Legal Services, now Community Legal Aid, for help.

“I knew I needed a lawyer,” Clarke said. “I called to see if I qualified with Western Mass. Legal Services.”

Wendy Berg, a longtime attorney who specializes in family law and handles custody, divorce, support, visitation and domestic abuse matters took the case. (Wendy is pictured outside Franklin County courthouse.)

Clarke worked with Berg and the agency for three years through her divorce over 10 years ago.

“They went to court with me. They supported me,” said Clarke said.

The agency helped Clarke get a restraining order against her ex-husband and full custody of her children. They secured a separate lawyer for the three kids, a standard practice to avoid conflict of interest.

The nonprofit also helped her access resources at Franklin County Regional Housing and Redevelopment Authority, where she received a subsidized apartment in Buckland. She was also connected with the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition, where she received counseling for herself and kids.

“Wendy Berg represented my children and me through many hurdles stressing safety first with our best interest at heart,” Clarke said. “Wendy helped me get child support so that I could provide for my children. Wendy also got the court to order supervised visitations for my children so that we could be sure that they were safe when they saw their father. Community Legal Aid was there when my children and I went into shelter for 40 days. I shudder to think where we may be today if CLA was not a part of my life.”

“Community Legal Aid became a savior for my family,” Clarke said. “(The agency) was there every step of the way through the three-year battle to finalize my divorce.”

Who the agency serves

Community Legal Aid serves residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester counties.

Through several consolidations of different agencies since the 1970s in western and central Massachusetts, Community Legal Aid was formed in 2011.

The nonprofit serves clients who se residents are age 60 and older.

It also serves individuals and families if the household income, before taxes, does not exceed 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. However, the nonprofit is allowed to make a “hardship” exception for an applicant whose income does not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines in certain circumstances.

They must also have civil legal issues aligned with its social justice priorities.

Typical clients are tenants facing wrongful eviction, homeowners facing foreclosure, survivors of domestic violence, workers cheated out of wages or denied lawful benefits and children in need of a stable home and elders whose economic security or health care is in jeopardy.

Last year, the agency assisted about 12,000 people with legal issues across all five counties, including about 1,000 people in Franklin County.

In Franklin County, the nonprofit has a satellite office at 55 Federal St. in Greenfield, but also works with Greenfield Community College and the Women’s Resource Center on campus to offer students access to legal advice.

In July, Community Legal Aid began its anti-domestic violence project with $5,000 from United Way of Franklin County.

The project focuses on providing comprehensive legal services to survivors of domestic violence in Franklin County.

“A survivor may come to us seeking an order of protection against her partner. She may need a child support order, custody or she may be at risk of eviction. We can treat the entire client with this grant,” said Jennifer Dieringer, managing attorney. “We can help with any legal problem they may encounter.”

United Way money

The United Way grant set a goal of 20 cases. By Jan. 1, Community Legal Aid had exceeded its goal, closing 15 cases and opening 8 more, Berg said.

Community Legal Aid’s service is holistic, offering clients the resources they need.

The project is led by Berg, who has worked with the agency for over 22 years.

Because often domestic violence victims face a variety of legal issues from divorce to custody battles or housing issues, attorneys at Community Legal Aid will often work together.

Berg often meets clients where they feel comfortable — NELCWIT in Greenfield.

On average, Berg handles 25 cases at a time in Franklin and Hampshire counties.

“I think survivors of domestic violence need to become economically independent from their abusers,” Berg said. “Often the reason survivors don’t leave their abusers is because they can’t make it on their own economically. Women and children constitute the majority of people in poverty.”

The challenge in Franklin County, Dieringer said, is its lack of access to services.

“It’s a low income county,” Dieringer said. “There’s not as many services as you’d find in a bigger city.”

The project falls under health programs for United Way.

“(Domestic violence) is a health issue that can impact victims and children through many facets of their lives,” Dieringer said. “It helps victims get divorced, child support, helps them get financial security to leave an abusive partner and break free from the violence.”

Fourteen years after working with Community Legal Aid, Clarke lives in South Deerfield and works at the Conway Grammar School.

Jay and James Clarke, now 24, own their own wood-mizer sawmill business, known as the J-Team. Kendra Clarke, 23, is working full-time as an assistant trainer at Amy Howard Dressage in New Jersey.

“I’m very happy,” Clarke said. “As you can see, we are a very successful family because of Community Legal Aid. They believed me. They believed my kids.”