The Florida Model Approaches Project

1. The Florida Model Approaches Project A Partnership between the Florida Department of Elder Affairs Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. The Florida Bar Foundation Florida Area Agencies on Aging and Florida’s IIIB-funded Legal Aid/Legal Services Providers

2. ProjectObjectives Objective 1: • Enhanced access to legal services through the Senior Legal Helpline and Aging Resource Centers Objective 2: • Improvement of quality of referrals to needed services Objective 3: • Coordination with the aging network Objective 4: • Coordination with the pro bono network Objective 5: • Coordination with self-help legal resources Objective 6: • Development of statewide standards to ensure consistent levels of quality among and between legal providers Objective 7: • Establish a meaningful statewide reporting system Objective 8: • Targeting services to those most in need

3. Overview of the Centralized Telephone Intake Unit at Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. • Types of hotlines by funding source and service area: • The Legal Aid Line is an LSC/Title III helpline serving a 5-county region; • The Florida Senior Legal Helpline is a statewide helpline funded by the Florida Dept. of Elder Affairs through a Model Approaches grant, and with IOTA funding. • Referrals for extended services for each helpline are made after consulting the appropriate Referral Matrix for that program. • Matrix developed with input from relevant partners – either non-LSC or bar-funded regional partners (Legal Aid Line), or IIIB-funded agencies throughout the state (Florida Senior Legal Helpline)

4. Applying for Services • Eligibility and Scheduling • Applicants dial separate toll-free numbers to be screened for eligibility and scheduled through the CTI Screening Unit • Screeners identify problem code, check for potential conflicts, note deadlines and enter descriptive details as appropriate • LSC-eligibility is reviewed and noted for applicants to both Helplines • Applicants are scheduled call-back appointments within 2-7 days of screening • Verifying/Completing the Application • Advocates call applicants at appointed times • Advocates obtain limited confidentiality waiver required by LSC and inform applicants of their appeal rights • Advocates verify income/asset information and check for additional opposing parties

5. Intake and Referral • Conducting Intake • Applicants to the Senior Legal Helpline are provided legal advice and brief services regardless of LSC financial eligibility • Advocates record facts/what client wants/advice given in Legal Server. • Attorneys new to the Helpline and all paralegals timely submit for supervisor review prior to closure. • Advocates create new/separate applications when clients report new/separate legal issues during intake. • Case Disposition • Advocates inform client of case action after supervisor review. • CTI files with documented advice and brief services may only be closed to “A” or “B” (“brief services” now called “limited action”) • “Limited action cases” are those where advice has been given AND the advocate has done something more. • Files for over-income clients <60 must be disposed of by an “x code” if the client is a no-show for the office appointment and cannot be assigned to a different grant. • Project manager and experienced attorneys determine whether regional or statewide referrals are available after consulting the appropriate Referral Matrix. • Cases transferred to a partner agency to be considered for extended representation are closed to our program with advice or limited action.

6. Statewide Legal Partnership Project: Maximizing Resources To Increase Legal Assistance for Underserved Seniors

7. State of Florida 67 Counties 4,157,824 residents age 60 and older 11 Planning & Service Areas, each with its own Area Agency on Aging 16 Legal Partners

8. Referral Process: • All clients receive legal advice over the telephone from an experienced elder law advocate (attorney or paralegal). • If a client needs further legal assistance - including extended representation - the case is forwarded to the team’s managing attorney to be evaluated according to the Senior Legal Helpline Referral Matrix. • Each Title IIIB legal services provider sets the referral criteria for their agency. Criteria vary depending upon the resources in that region. Those referral priorities are then added to the Matrix. • Approved referrals are faxed to a designated contact person in the Title IIIB-funded or other appropriate program in the client’s county of residence. The SLH case is then closed.

9. Matrix Examples • “Meritorious cases for ______ and _____ Co. residents should be faxed to the director of _______, regardless of client income and assets. Non-priority divorce cases may also be referred for the program’s biweekly divorce clinic. If case is an emergency, call the director first, then fax. In his absence referrals should be faxed to the managing attorney.” • “As a general rule, clients referred to any ______ office should be at or near LSC guidelines. Do not refer consumer cases unless they involved impact litigation. Referrals should be faxed to the attention of _______. Clients should be told they can expect to hear from a _______ representative w/in 10 days. Emergency referrals should first be made by telephone to ______. A fax should then be sent on the same day with a notation as to the deadline and that an immediate response is necessary.” • “______ will be referring non-priority callers to their offices to the Helpline………. However, lower-income callers with legal problems in the areas of health, housing, consumer, public benefits, naturalization and divorces/injunctions (DV victims only) may be referred back to _______. No services are available for advance directives.”

10. Building Partnerships:2006 to the present • Contacted legal services/legal aid programs throughout Florida to develop the initial Statewide Referral Matrix for legal provider partners by January 2006. The Matrix sets out priority guidelines for referring Senior clients to IIIB-funded programs - as well as those with no IIIB funding - in each of Florida’s 11 Planning & Service Areas. • Awarded a grant from the National Legal Training Project at AARP and partnered with them to provide a free 2-day substantive legal training at Stetson Law College in February 2006. Elder law advocates statewide were invited to attend. Topics included predatory mortgage and consumer lending, and working effectively with elderly clients. • Engaged in targeted promotional efforts during 2006 - 2008 to reach underserved Seniors throughout the state. Activities included mailing SLH brochures and posters to the directors of each Area Agency on Aging; writing legal education pieces for DOEA’s Elder Update publication; and providing presentations at provider meetings in 7 of the 11 Planning and Service Areas.

11. Received a DOEA minigrant in May of 2007 to hire law school summer interns to update the 2002 AARP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The interns’ research was compiled to create informational mailouts on a variety of consumer issues addressed in the FAQs and identified through the Helpline, and a “Consumer Tips” brochure mailed in bulk to AAA and IIIB partners. • Integrated the SLH informational mailouts and other substantive and procedural materials into a CTI computer desktop manual available to advocates conducting Helpline intake. Relevant topic mailouts can then be accessed by any advocate and included with the closing letter they send to their clients. • Identified several legal issues common throughout the state, including the Medicare retroactive disenrollment maze; the lack of response from law enforcement to the financial exploitation of Seniors from contractors as well as from acquaintances; and creditors suing to collect on stale debts.

12. Helpline staff participated in reviewing questions for the Florida Legal Needs Survey; proof-read sections of the Older Floridians Handbook; and completed a 1-year cycle of gathering client satisfaction data for the Legal Helpline. The majority of survey responses indicated a high level of satisfaction with Helpline services. The number one reason for dissatisfaction has been the lack of additional resources available to the Seniors after they have received legal advice and brief services. • Helpline staff participated in DOEA’s Communities for a Lifetime forums in 2008 and a televised Town Hall Meeting last May on caregiving for the elderly. Partners included the Secretary for DOEA; various AAA directors; and social services providers for Seniors. • To better identify the disparity in legal resources, Helpline staff have developed outcome referral forms to track services provided to Seniors referred to III-B partners. Helpline staff are also working to incorporate additional pro se and pro bono resources into the Statewide Matrix. • Cases closed increased from 1119 in 2007 to 1859 in 2008, with a significant increase in LSC-eligible Seniors served: 18% to 35%.

13. Statewide Planning MeetingsApril 2008 • Identified strengths and weaknesses of current system, along with opportunities for improvement • Next Steps: • Cross-training • Services available through aging network • What should constitute a legal referral, and what are emerging legal issues impacting seniors • Develop targeting standards to ensure most vulnerable are served • Look at funding sources and how these dollars can be leveraged to support elder law specialization in local legal aid programs • Strengthen referral system to determine success of referrals