Family Legal Health Program
The Family Legal Health Program at SickKids is a unique initiative that links health care and legal care to improve child health.
Created by Pro Bono Law Ontario, the Family Legal Health Program delivers free legal services to low-income families whose children receive treatment at SickKids Hospital. Program partners are The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and law firms McMillan and Torkin Manes.
The Family Legal Health Program is the first of its kind in Canada. It is also the first international example of a highly regarded model originating in the United States called Medical-Legal Partnerships. Its inter-disciplinary approach uses legal remedies to address the social determinants of health-non-medical issues that can adversely impact a child's health or a family's capacity to care for a sick child. The program aims to improve the health outcomes of low-income patients and, at the same time, enhance the capacity of health care professionals-social workers, doctors, nurses-by incorporating legal advocacy and legal services into clinical practice.
The program is based on the following premises:
• Social conditions have a formative impact on the health and wellbeing of children and families, and poverty is a determinant of poor health;
• Most social issues associated with poverty have legal implications and remedies in the law;
• Lawyers are beneficial interdisciplinary partners for health care practitioners treating low-income patients whose health and family stability may be impacted by complex socio-economic issues.
The Family Legal Health Program combines the best efforts of clinicians and lawyers in the pursuit of better child health outcomes. The model allows clinical staff to see beyond biological factors of patient illness to social causes, contributors and consequences. Nurses, social workers and physicians can refer low-income families to the program for legal resources to redress detrimental social conditions and resolve persistent issues that may prevent them from focusing their full attention on a sick child. As a result of the Family Legal Health Program's involvement, clinical interventions can be more effective and sustainable.
The program has three core activities:
1. Advocacy and legal issue training
The goal of advocacy training is to enhance the capacity of SickKids clinicians to care for their patients by giving them the tools to identify and address legal issues confronting patients and families. As clinicians become confident in their ability to solicit information about legal matters, and witness how the program connects families with lawyers who provide solutions, advocacy becomes a regular component of healthcare.
2. Direct legal assistance to low-income patients and families
When legal issues are identified, patients/families are referred for free, on-site legal services. An on-site Triage Lawyer manages an intake process and places cases with appropriate lawyers from the program's legal network. Services are provided through pro bono (volunteer) lawyers, Legal Aid and occasionally by the Triage Lawyer. Pressing legal issues get the attention they require so families can focus their full attention on their child's health.
3. Systemic advocacy
Through the Family Legal Health Program legal advocacy becomes a tool to effect change on systemic social or bureaucratic issues that can impact the health and wellbeing of present and future patient populations. Policy work and test cases are two effective ways that lawyers can help paediatric clinicians resolve longstanding impediments to child health.
Contact Information
To learn more about the Family Legal Health Program, contact Wendy Miller, Director of The Child Advocacy Project, Pro Bono Law Ontario at 416-977-4448 x230 or wendy@childadvocacy.ca
Program Launch
The Family Legal Health Program will hold a formal launch on November 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm. Media are encouraged to contact us for more information about the event.
FLHP in the News
VIDEO>>Family Legal Health Program featured on CTV News
AUDIO>>CBC Radio: Ottawa Morning (Ottawa) - Nov. 12, 2009. Interview with Ted McNeill and Lee Ann Chapman
(you may need to download RealPlayer to listen to this file)
