November 22, 2024

The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation Funds Community Legal Aid’s Family Preservation Project

BY Community Legal Aid

Community Legal Aid, the non-profit civil legal aid program serving the low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties, has been awarded funding from The Hanover Insurance Group Foundation to support its Family Preservation Project in Worcester County. With this funding of $25,000, the Project will provide urgently needed legal advocacy and other family-centered services to assist parents at risk of having their children removed from their home by the Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Jonathan Mannina, Executive Director of Community Legal Aid, said, “Too often, children are placed in foster care because their parents are in crisis due to domestic violence or a lack of access to safe housing, food, and appropriate educational services. These poverty-related problems are not the equivalent of parental neglect or abuse and should not warrant separating children from their families. The Family Preservation Project provides a holistic approach to pre-removal child protection cases, recognizing the benefits of strengthening vulnerable families instead of relying solely on state intervention and foster care. We deeply appreciate The Hanover’s support for our work.”

“As part of our work to help our youth, we are proud to support the Family Preservation Project,” said Kimberly Salmon, assistant vice president, community relations at The Hanover. “This program will provide at-risk families with legal representation, that empowers them with the resources to help keep their families together.”

The Project, which was initially launched in late 2021, is designed to provide comprehensive stabilization services to families who have open investigations or clinical cases with DCF. The Project is staffed by an attorney who provides direct legal assistance to client families in a variety of areas; a case manager who provides referrals for services to support the family; and a parent advocate with lived experience who supports families and facilitates communications between families and DCF. The goal of the Project is to keep families intact and minimize the disruption and trauma of even short-term foster care.

Community Legal Aid is deeply grateful for the support from all of the organizations that have helped it expand its Family Preservation Project in the last year, including Baystate Health, Carlos Vega Fund for Social Justice and Community Service at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Charles H. Hall Foundation, Highland Street Foundation, Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation and Reliant Foundation.

About Community Legal Aid:

Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Western and Central Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester), and maintains offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. CLA works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families. Residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester Counties who would like to apply for assistance should visit Community Legal Aid’s website, www.communitylegal.org/gethelp, or call 1 855 252 5342.  For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org.