​County Social Services Receives Family Defense Grant

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Furthering the county’s mission to provide comprehensive legal and social services to families struggling with child welfare issues, the Westchester County Department of Social Services will partner with Legal Services of the Hudson Valley to create the Family Defense Unit. The New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services issued a $2.61 million grant to the county for this three-year project.

This model unit, to be based in Legal Services of the Hudson Valley’s White Plains office, will also serve families in Yonkers and other communities as needed and will be staffed with attorneys, social workers and parent advocates who will provide assistance to families with child protective and family court matters.

Families will also have access to a range of other LSHV legal support to address loss of health insurance and other benefits, eviction, homelessness, consumer debt and domestic violence.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said the grant will ultimately help to produce stronger, more stable families in Westchester through the creation of this program.

"We have a long history of successful collaborations with LSHV, and I am thrilled that Westchester has been selected to operate this first-of-its-kind program upstate, which will address both the legal and social service issues confronting parents who are affected by the child welfare system,” he said.

LSHV’s Chief Executive Officer Barbara Finkelstein said this collaboration with Westchester County will advance her clients’ due process rights while also helping them get the benefits and services they need.

"We could not do this important work without the support of our partners in government and because of this pilot program, hundreds of Westchester County families will receive critical legal assistance to ensure that they have a fair chance in the justice system,” she said.

The Family Defense Unit attorneys will be tasked with providing the appropriate legal and support services necessary for the clients, social workers will assess the needs of each family to provide case and crisis management, and parent advocates will provide peer-to-peer support to families on a weekly basis.

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has four community-based offices located in Mount Vernon, Peekskill, White Plains and Yonkers. The Westchester County Family Defense Unit is set to open in 2020.

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