SEALS Program Update

The partnership between the Welfare Law Unit at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) and the Social Services Department at MGH enters its eighth month in April—a good time to reflect on the overall progression of the project. Thank you all for making this collaboration a success so far, and for bearing with us as we continue to fine-tune the referral process. Please keep referring welfare cases to the SEALS Project, as described below.

The Project’s most notable accomplishment since September is the number of clients whom the Social Services Department has referred and the Welfare Law Unit has been able to help. Over the past eight months, Welfare Law Unit advocates have assisted 25 clients in over 40 cases covering a range of issues including: maintaining welfare benefits, appealing the termination or denial of benefits, and securing such benefits-related services as childcare, utility shutoff protection, and shelter placement.

In addition to the steady stream of cases, GBLS and the MGH Community Resource Center have held 3 substantive trainings since September. These trainings focused on the eligibility and application processes for TAFDC and EAEDC, for Food Stamps benefits, and for SSI/SSDI benefits. These have been summarized and posted in the relevant topic-areas of our website. For copies of these presentations in PDF format, please email Ambika Panday at apanday@gbls.org. One of the Project’s greatest challenges is adjusting to the ever-changing capacities of GBLS advocates to accept incoming cases. Welfare Law Unit advocates recently updated our Intake Protocol (included below) to ensure that clients with welfare-related cases make it through the referral process. For questions about these updated procedures, please contact Ambika Panday at apanday@gbls.org or at 617-603-1561.

Intake Protocol - important points to remember!

1. Cases must be referred by a Social Worker at MGH Main Campus.
2. Clients must reside in GBLS’s service area.
3. Cases must fall into one of the following categories:
   1. Client under age 60 unless it is a TAFDC case (the GBLS Elder Law Unit handles non-TAFDC welfare cases for clients over 60), and
   2. Relating to a problem with TAFDC, TAFDC-related benefits and services, EAEDC, and/or Food Stamps, or
   3. Involving Recipients needing legal advice about rights, options, or obligations regarding TAFDC, TAFDC-related benefits and services, EAEDC, and/or Food Stamps.
4. The Welfare Law Unit does NOT take:
   1. Cases that involve solely an overpayment or a past underpayment of benefits.
   2. EA shelter cases. (The GBLS Housing Unit handles such cases.)
   3. Cases involving a veteran seeking any type of veterans benefits.
   4. Cases involving SSI or SSDI denials, overpayments, or other matters, with the following exception:
      1. If the client has an existing welfare case with the Welfare Law Unit, advocates may be able to assist the client with applying for SSI/SSDI if the referring Social Worker cannot assist the patient or if there are special issues, like concerns about immigrant status.

5. Cases should not be referred prior to the client’s attempting to apply for benefits unless:
   1. the client has already very recently attempted to apply and was turned away, or
   2. the client is fearful of applying due to immigration status or Domestic Violence. (In such cases, a referral for proactive advice is appropriate.)

   Note: We do take cases prior to the hearing stage. Overall, it is important to refer welfare problems as soon as possible.

6. Social Workers should refer cases by faxing a completed SEALS intake form (available on the Social Services Department web site) to the Welfare Law Unit, c/o Ambika. If you would like confirmation that the Welfare Law Unit has received the referral, please call WLU Administrative Assistant Noriko Fahey, 617-603-1806. If the intake fax includes your e-mail address, Noriko will e-mail you to confirm receipt.
7. If a patient has a legal issue that does not involve welfare benefits, please call (or ask the patient to call) the Legal Advocacy Resource Center at 617-371-1234 or 800-323-3205 for assistance.
   

3/08