
Adobe Stock
Families at Cook Children’s Medical Center often struggle with accessing legal services, whether it be qualifying for public benefits, obtaining a guardianship for their incapacitated adult child, or communicating with their landlord to remediate unsafe housing issues.
Realizing the impact these factors can have on a child’s health, Cook Children’s Health Care System has partnered with Texas A&M School of Law (TAMU Law) to offer free legal services to patients and families with legal needs that directly affect their health and access to medical care. The program also provides patients and families with access to legal services in family law, housing, and public benefits.
It’s a partnership that not only helps patients but also allows law students to develop and apply their skills on behalf of clients who cannot afford legal representation.
“The health and well-being of our patients is impacted by so many factors beyond the scope of traditional medical care,” Vida Amin, medical director of Cook Children’s Neighborhood Clinics, said in a statement. “Having an accessible, dedicated resource for our families to turn to for assistance in navigating their legal challenges will be an invaluable addition to the family-centered care we strive to provide every day.”
Since launching in March 2020, the collaboration has assisted dozens of families, one of the first being the family of Felicia Carey. A social worker at Cook Children’s referred Carey to the program after the death of her sister, which left her to care for three teenagers, including a niece diagnosed with spina bifida.
Carey has since finalized her guardianship issues and is now working with TAMU Law on an adult adoption, veterans’ benefits, and developing her will.
“At first, it was very difficult because I lost the paperwork that allowed me guardianship so I could take the children to the doctor,” Carey said in a statement. “A social worker at Cook Children’s referred me to the program, and it’s been phenomenal. They made a process, which was unbearable, extremely easy.”