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NEWS AND STORIES |
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How is HeLP Helping Kids Right Now? Here are some of the problems that the Health Law Partnership (HeLP) is working on now: A child who has been in Children's Hospital for several months is not being given credit for school work done during that time. A child who was seriously injured in car accident received settlement and now needs help setting up a special needs trust for that money A deaf child is being disciplined regularly in school for "not paying attention." Social Security Administration has denied SSI for a child with sickle cell anemia; the SSA claims that the child doesn't have sickle cell disease, in spite of doctors' diagnoses. The father of a seriously disabled child needs home healthcare assistance so that he can return to work. A father with a gravely ill child needs to grant temporary guardianship over another child at home, many miles away from Children's Hospital. A child's SSI has been cut off, because the SSA claims the child is institutionalized, however, this child has never been institutionalized. A child's school does not want her coming to back unless she is treated for her disorder. Her parents have no insurance to cover costs of the medication needed. A child lost Peachcare insurance when her mother was promoted a year ago. The mother cannot get the child on private insurance, because of a pre-existing condition, and there is no portability certificate. A child's aunt is caring for her disabled nephew in her home but needs Guardianship or temporary custody over him. A client wants to adopt her great-niece who is now in DFACS custody. A client rents a house that has severe mold problems. She has two children with very serious allergies, including one who has had leukemia A school sends a child home when he has an asthma attack; the school should work with him and keep him in school. A client was told she is over-income for food stamps, but her family is well below the poverty level. A child needs home health services to be released to hospital; however, Medicaid has denied services, due to lack of providers. Read more on a new Health Law Partnership web site. Credit Freeze: Stop ID Theft Consumer advocates say that Georgia's new law (effective August 2008) is one of the most consumer friendly laws in the country, with a low cost (for some Georgians, free) way to reduce the risk of identity theft. Georgians can now "freeze" their credit information, so that written permission would be needed by anyone attempting to access their credit records. The Georgia Credit Freeze caps the amount most consumers must pay for each security freeze at $3 and will be free for senior citizens and people who can prove they are the victims of identity theft. Credit agencies could "thaw" the account temporarily if the consumer asked for them to do so. A code number will be given to people freezing their credit for this purpose so that people applying for loans could make these reports accessible at their own discretion. Experts say that there is no way to completely prevent identity theft but being able to freeze your credit certainly reduces the risk. To place a credit freeze on your file, consumers must contact the credit reporting agencies: Experian Security Freeze Equifax Security Freeze TransUnion Security Freeze The request must include identifying information: * Full name (and former name if applicable) | Just Another Day At Legal Aid Some of our cases make the evening news; sometimes you read about us in the "Atlanta Journal Constitution." Most days, you don't know what a legal aid attorney has done for someone in your community. There are a million stories in this city; these are a few of them. Foreclosure Rescue A "foreclosure rescue" company contacted Mr. CP with an offer to help him save his home from foreclosure for a fee of $495. Mr. CP paid it and then was recontacted; the company demanded more money order to save his home. At this point, Mr CP realized that there was a problem with this company; he refused to pay the new amount and demanded his money back. He contacted Atlanta Legal Aid when he had no response to his demand. We discovered that this company was a pyramid scheme, which found investors willing to pay for "training" in foreclosure prevention. These investors then seek homeowners vulnerable to foreclosure, and offer help in saving their homes. All the company actually does is negotiate a "deal" with the lender that is generally no better -- and often worse -- than the homeowner could have negotiated on his own. We tracked down the president of this particular company, who also heads other scam companies that offer to "fix" parking tickets, and persuaded him to refund client $405. They kept the $90 that had been used for certain legitimate inspections. Mr. CP was very happy with the settlement. Unemployment Benefits Ms. TMO asked Legal Aid for help after being denied unemployment. She had left a job earlier because of sexual harassment, but had found a new job immediately. When she lost that job, she wasn't able to get unemployment benefits based on it because she had been an independent contractor. When Legal Aid represented her at the Board of Review, it found that changing jobs because of sexual harassment was good cause to leave the job and awarded benefits. Home Defense Mr. RP contacted Legal Aid saying his mortgage holder was not fully crediting his payments. Our investigation revealed that he was four months behind in his payments on a Fannie Mae mortgage and that a foreclosure sale had been scheduled. We negotiated with the mortgage holder's loss mitigation department to cancel the foreclosure and set up a workout agreement with the client based on medical hardship. When Mr. RP was unable to submit a required payment along with his signed workout agreement due to new medical expenses, the mortgage holder rescheduled foreclosure for the first Tuesday in December. We negotiated a second foreclosure cancellation as part of a general moratorium on Fannie Mae loan foreclosures. This gave client a much needed breather that he had been unable to negotiate himself to seek a loan modification or modified work plan. Client Wins Case For Herself! Atlanta Legal Aid is not always able to provide an attorney to go to hearings, but we do try to give clients the tools to help themselves. Often just standing up in front of a judge and telling the truth will produce good results. That is what happened for Mary P., who called the Georgia Seniors Legal Hotline for help when she was sued by Sears. The attorney gave Ms. P advice on representing herself, and shortly after the hearing, we had a letter from a very satisfied client. Dear Ms. Draper: I called and spoke with you [last month.] At that time I informed you that I was being sued by a law firm representing Sears. I had a credit card account with Sears that is now delinquent since August 2005. You offered me legal advice and suggestions as to how I should represent myself in court. Since I was not judgment proof, and didn't have the funds to settle this account, the court could place a lien against my property. This news disturbed me very much! After preparing myself (I had plenty of records) where I had appealed to Sears on many occasions and asked them to help me help myself, I presented my case, and I won. I WON! One senior citizen stood up against a big company and won! The court/judge dismissed the case without prejudice. It was explained to me that Sears might try and sue me again. If that happens, I'll just fight them all over again. Thank you so much for your legal support at a time when I really needed it. Sincerely, Mary P. Another Note of Thanks To the women of Cobb County Legal Aid: I just want to thank you all for all that you did in helping me get my divorce and child support for my children. I especially want to lift up Ms. Edwards for all her help. She was a wonderful help. She was a wonderful attorney. None of my family of friends was able to attend court with me, so naturally, I was afraid and didn’t know what to expect, but [my attorney] served as not only my attorney, but a “supportive sister” and a “Fighting Friend” who always has my back. She truly went above and beyond! Because of that, I was able to be confident that everything would turn in my favor and it did! Before I attended court, I went to the legal aid office to meet with [my attorney], and when we were leaving, the other attorney’s were going to court, too, and as we all were leaving, one of the secretary” said “Take no prisoners!” That gave me courage and empowerment as a woman! All of you are remarkable and intelligent! I thank you al! Much, much, success! |
