Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113678

Cheryl S. Driscoll, JD¹, Harry L. Ferguson, JD², George-Marie Jasmin, JD³, David Keller, MD⁴, Rebecca M. Kislak, JD⁵, Ellen Lawton, JD³, Sara Meerse, JD, MSW⁶, Samantha Morton, JD³, Anne Phillips, MPH⁷, Jay E. Sicklick, JD⁸, Christopher J. Stenberg, MBChB, FAAP⁹, and Pamela Tames, JD³. (1) New Hampshire Legal Assistance, 1361 Elm Street, Ste 307, Manchester, NH 02101, (2) Family Advocates of Central Massachsuetts, Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts, 405 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01608, (3) Family Advocacy Program, Boston Medical Center, Maternity 5, 91 East Concord St., Boston, MA 02118, (4) UMass Department of Pediatrics, South County Pediatrics, 336 Thompson Rd., Webster, MA 01570, (5) Rhode Island Family Advocacy Program, Rhode Island Legal Services, 128 Dorrance St. Ste. 300, Providence, RI 02903, (6) Kids Legal Aid of Maine, 88 Federal St., P.O. Box 547, Portland, ME 04112-0547, 207-774-8246, smeerse@ptla.org, (7) Child Health Services, 1245 Elm Street, Manchester, NH 03101, (8) Center for Children's Advocacy, University of Connecticut School of Law, 65 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT 06105, (9) The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, Maine Medical Center, 22 Bramhall Street, Portland, ME 04102

Health is influenced by both biological and social factors. While physicians may be able to identify social factors, such as poor housing, that adversely affect patient health, they often are not trained to advocate and intervene on behalf of the patient. Family Advocacy Programs are medical-legal collaborations created to ensure that struggling low-income families have full access to legal advocacy tools they can employ to improve their health status. Currently there are more than thirty FAP programs around the country. The doctors and lawyers who participate in these collaborations feel that they are effective but much of the evidence to support this work has been anecdotal.

A working group composed of six New England FAP sites has been formed to study the effectiveness and sustainability for the FAP model. This presentation will address two issues: 1) development and testing of evaluation measures, including both process and outcomes measures, to determine the effects of the FAP model on the health of children in poverty. 2) building support for the FAP model within the medical and legal communities, as well as the local communities that they serve.

The presentation will share the findings of the working group, and help participants to develop a plan to bring a FAP back to their community.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the presentation, attendees will be able to (
• explain the nature of the medical-legal collaboration model, and how it can fit into medical and public health practice (
• plan an appropriate evaluation for medical-legal collaboration (
• develop a plan to replicate a medical-legal collaboration.

Keywords: Low-Income, Access and Services

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.