Law Foundation's Favorites of 2018 – Children & Youth

The Law Foundation's Favorites of 2018 wraps up this week with our favorites related to Children & Youth. You can help us continue to use the law as a tool for change by making a gift to the Law Foundation today. Your end-of-year support is greatly appreciated and crucial to achieving our mission of increasing access to justice to our most vulnerable communities in Silicon Valley.

Learn more about the issues children and youth in our community face by checking out the list below. Also, click here to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates from the Law Foundation straight to your inbox (including lists like these)!

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"Congratulations, You're On Your Own: Life After Foster Care" - Documentary

In this documentary, you'll follow a group of young adults as they tell their stories about navigating foster care and the hardships they face as they transition out of the system. When young people "age out" of the foster care system (they reach 21-years-old, the maximum age requirement needed for their caregiver to receive financial support), they are often forced to leave their guardian's home and figure out life on their own. These real-life stories remind us of our own clients who face the same hardships - nearly every foster care youth in Santa Clara County is assigned a Law Foundation attorney and we work tirelessly to ensure their safety and security. Watch here.

ACLU "On Liberty" Podcast about School Discipline

The school-to-prison pipeline severely affects students who are facing increased police presence at school and severe punishments for routine misbehavior that can result in arrest and criminal charges - and students of color are disproportionately impacted. In this podcast, the ACLU discusses the pipeline and what it means for our children. As part of the Law Foundation's education rights work, we assist students when they or their parents feel they are mistreated at school or are not receiving adequate resources to succeed. Listen here.

"Foster Care's Burn Book on Me" by Noel Anaya

Former foster youth Noel Anaya was placed in foster care when he was one-year-old. In this article, Anaya tells his emotional, empowering story as he obtains his foster care court records - 10 binders of paperwork detailing his life in the system. For foster youth, obtaining their court records can be an enlightening and critical step when moving into adulthood. Anaya is also working on a documentary about teens in the system and his own experience (keep an eye out for Law Foundation attorney Ben Ebert!). Watch the trailer here.

RACE EQUITY SPOTLIGHT

As social justice lawyers and advocates, it is critical that we work to understand the complex challenges our clients experience every day. This includes working to understand structural racism and systemic inequalities that pervade through policies, practices, and cultural messages. At the Law Foundation, we challenge these systems and assist clients in navigating them daily. With the adoption of a strategic Race Equity Initiative, we examine these systems with a more critical lens to better meet the needs of our clients and the communities we serve.

“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

As a New York Times Bestseller and inspiration for a film released in October by the same name, The Hate U Give is a novel written for young adults with a message that anyone can learn from. After Starr Carter, a 16-year-old black youth, witnesses a police officer murder her unarmed friend, she processes the trauma and turns to activism. From 12-year-old Tamir Rice to 18-year-old Michael Brown, police brutality is a reality for many children and teens of color. Thomas, the author, writes a powerful take on the difficulties facing young African Americans growing up in the United States. Read a review here.

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We really hope you enjoyed the recommendations from our board, attorneys, staff, and volunteers! To create a more equitable community and society, we all must do our part to stay informed and engaged. We also hope that you will take this moment as an opportunity to become involved with the Law Foundation and its mission to increase access to justice by providing free legal services to low-income and underrepresented people and families.

Law Foundation's Favorites of 2018 — Health

The Law Foundation's "Favorites of 2018" continues this week with our health-related favorites. You can help us continue to use the law as a tool for change by making a gift to the Law Foundation today. Your end-of-year support is greatly appreciated and will help increase access to justice for our most vulnerable communities in Silicon Valley.

Learn more about the health-related issues affecting our clients and community by checking out the list below. Also, click here to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates from the Law Foundation straight to your inbox (including lists like these)!

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55 Steps

Based on a true story, this film explores an uphill legal fight for a patient's rights that led to Riese v. St. Mary's Hospital and Medical Care Center. In this case, brought in the name of Eleanor Riese by the California ACLU, the California State Court of Appeals declared that patients in involuntary mental health treatment have the right to exercise informed consent in most cases regarding the use of antipsychotic drugs. This case still governs the hearings conducted by the Law Foundation's Patients' Rights Unit and established a legal standard for determining capacity to refuse psychiatric medications that are used nationally and around the world. Featuring an award-winning cast, including Helena Bonham Carter and Hilary Swank, this film tells an inspiring and heartfelt story of friendship and combating mistreatment. Watch here.

Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act - Immigration Enforcement

 Comedian and host of the Netflix show "Patriot Act," Hasan Minhaj analyzes and contextualizes United States' xenophobic immigration policies by exploring the history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other issues that contribute to the current anti-immigrant climate, shown most recently through the example of the Central American caravan. Using data from The Marshall Project, Minhaj uses facts and humor to demonstrate how U.S. immigration policies are broken. As one of several co-counsel representing immigrant minors in the Flores Settlement Agreement, the Law Foundation helps ensure the standards that govern length of time and conditions in which migrant children can be held at federal detention facilities are enforced. Watch here.

"UNAIDS Report: 9 Million Are Likely HIV Positive And Don't Know It"- NPR

 This year's theme for World AIDS Day, on December 1, was "Know your HIV status." A new report from UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS) found that about 9.4 million people are likely HIV-positive and don't know it. The UNAIDS also just launched a global partnership to eliminate HIV-related stigma, which continues to be widespread around the world. People living with HIV experience discrimination based on their gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and immigration status. Our Health Program provides services to people living with HIV to ensure that discrimination like this doesn't undermine their rights, including access to health, work, and a stable income. Read here.

RACE EQUITY SPOTLIGHT

"So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo

Race and racism can be difficult topics to talk about if they're not part of someone's daily life experience, but this book is for everyone. Oluo takes an accessible and approachable avenue to address the most sensitive and charged issues in the United States regarding racial disparities and oppression by being straightforward and funny. From white privilege to police brutality, this New York Times bestseller breaks down the systems of power, how they work to perpetuate and uphold racial oppression, and how each of us can do our part to help dismantle them. Read this review from the National Book Review.

San Jose City Council Supports Ordinance Limiting Section 8 Housing Discrimination

On Tuesday, December 11, San Jose City Council voted to support a number of tenant protections that will improve the lives of low-income and working-class families in their search for affordable housing. The Law Foundation Housing Team and attorneys have been diligently following these issues and advocating strongly on behalf of our most vulnerable communities. A number of our attorneys represented the Law Foundation at the City Council meeting and spoke in support of the following protections that passed:

1. Prohibiting Source of Income Discrimination – Direct San Jose Housing Department Staff to bring back an ordinance preventing landlords from refusing to accept subsidies, such as Section 8 vouchers. Read more.

2. Commercial Linkage Fee - This would require a study related to what fees are viable on commercial development that could be used for affordable housing.

3. Added protections to the Tenant Protection Ordinance that include protections for domestic violence survivors, requiring notices about rent assistance, requiring postings related to immigration status, and allowing a person not convicted of a crime to move back in with family.