What We Do

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Our clients are primarily current and former foster youth. Nationwide studies have shown that a disproportionate number of foster youth end up homeless, on welfare, institutionalized in state mental hospitals or in prison after they leave foster care. The Children & Youth Law Clinic helps Florida's foster youths avoid those dire outcomes by helping them get the support they need from state government to make the difficult transition to self-sufficient adulthood.

The Clinic's goals are to:

• Train students in fundamental lawyering skills, with an emphasis on learning from experience.
• Instill in students high standards of ethics and professional responsibility.
• Provide high quality, professional and zealous representation to our clients.
• Foster students' ability to engage in self-reflection and introspective professional development.
• Enhance students' understanding of how legal doctrine and institutions operate in individual cases.
• Encourage students to consider public interest careers, and generally emphasize the value of public service.

We primarily represent children and young adults in the following matters:

• Dependency
• Road to Independence (RTI) and other independent living advocacy and administrative hearings
• Special Education
• Medicaid and Medicaid Waiver administrative hearings
• Landlord/Tenant
• Public Benefits
• Emancipation
• Temporary Custody by Relative Caregivers
• Guardianship
• Immigration