Children’s Law Center to Expand Intervention and Advocacy with Grant from the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation
Staffing doctors' offices with lawyers working to protect children is part of how the Children's Law Center will use a $100,000 grant from the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation. Along with helping to expand medical-legal partnerships, the funds will also support Children's Law Center's work to advocate for systemic change to increase the well-being of children in the District.
"Children's Law Center not only helps children and families navigate individual legal barriers but is also a strong proponent of meaningful changes across all the systems that impact the lives of children across the District such as foster care, housing, education and children's behavioral health,” said AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia Market President Karen Dale. "We are very appreciative of the investment the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation has made in Children's Law Center's vital work to address the root causes of trauma and toxic stress that impact youth and families in the District.”
Building on its medical-legal partnerships with pediatric clinics across the District, Children's Law Center recently launched Families Together, which will embed lawyers in perinatal care teams and other community organizations to help reduce the prevalence of conditions that lead to traumatic events or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) even earlier in a child's life, such as hazardous housing conditions, homelessness, unemployment, and early childhood developmental delays.
"We are grateful to receive this grant from the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation,” said Children's Law Center Executive Director Judith Sandalow. "Through this grant, we can continue to help resolve the root causes that lead to ACEs and move upstream, reaching families sooner to reduce harm and prevent additional trauma.”
In the District, nearly one out of every five children have experienced two or more ACEsOpens a new window.
The AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation is dedicated to preventing and mitigating ACEs, which the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionOpens a new window classifies as potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood. Children with a higher prevalence of ACEs are at an increased risk of negative health and well-being outcomes in adulthood.
About the Children’s Law Center
Children’s Law Center believes every child should grow up with a strong foundation of family, health and education and live in a world free from poverty, trauma, racism and other forms of oppression. Our more than 100 staff – together with DC children and families, community partners and pro bono attorneys – use the law to solve children’s urgent problems today and improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow. Since our founding in 1996, we have reached more than 50,000 children and families directly and multiplied our impact by advocating for city-wide solutions that benefit hundreds of thousands more. Learn more at www.childrenslawcenter.org.