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July-August 2009 Clearinghouse Review

As foreclosures, health care reform negotiations, unemployment rate increases, and deliberations about a "postracial" America continue, many low-income families are hungry, losing their jobs, homes, or public benefits, and making do with inadequate health care and job training. This issue of Clearinghouse Review offers innovative strategies and valuable information on serving clients in need. Topics covered in this issue include foreclosure defense, employment for people with disabilities, services for youths leaving foster care, asset-building strategies for victims of domestic violence, and more.

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About This Issue
Growing the Toolbox: Diverse Strategies for Public Interest Lawyers in Campaigns to Expand Access to Health Care for Low-Income People

Successful advocacy campaigns for access to health care require lawyers to surpass traditional drafting, technical knowledge, and litigation tools. Influencing policymakers at the executive and legislative branches of government, not just the judiciary, calls for multiple and multiforum strategies as well as a variety of skills and capacities. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law demonstrated this multipronged approach by collaborating with community organizations during the FamilyCare campaign, with the media and key political figures during Memisovski v. Maram, and with national organizations in the Bell v. Leavitt case.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Litigation to Improve Access to Health Care for Children: Lessons from Memisovski v. Maram, by John Bouman, Frederick H. Cohen, David J. Chizewer, Stephanie Altman, and Thomas Yates
- The Power of Working with Community Organizations: The Illinois FamilyCare Campaign--Effective Results Through Collaboration, by John Bouman
- Medicaid Citizenship Documentation Requirements Do Not Apply to Foster Children and Children Receiving Adoption Assistance, Congress Confirms--But Application to Other Medicaid Applicants and Recipients Not Yet Halted
By John Bouman
Defending Postforeclosure Evictions
As foreclosures mount, more residents of foreclosed properties—both homeowners and tenants—are subjected to postforeclosure eviction proceedings. In response, advocates may raise both standard eviction defenses and defenses particular to foreclosed properties. Among the latter is the “produce the note” defense that challenges the standing of the party seeking eviction. Though not the panacea that some have dubbed it, this defense can be successful in some circumstances.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.

Related Articles
- Defending Mortgage Foreclosures: Seeking a Role for Equity, by David A. Super
- Strength in Numbers: Legal Advocates and Community Organizers Partner to Fight Foreclosures, by Antonio Hicks
- Foreclosure Defense: Understanding TILA Basics Is Essential, by Mark Ireland
- Legal Aid Attorneys and the Foreclosure Crisis, by Ira Rheingold
- Minnesota Tenants Gain More Rights in Foreclosure Through Legislative Task Force Collaboration, by Lawrence R. McDonough
- See also the archive of two foreclosure-related webinars produced by the editorial staff of Clearinghouse Review
By Maeve Elise Brown and Lisa Sitkin
Building Networks Online: Connecting Today's Poverty Law Advocates and Organizations to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges
The emergence of social network websites as some of the most highly visited on the Worldwide Web presents an opportunity for poverty law advocates to leverage these networks to maximize the impact of advocacy work. To accomplish this, advocates must first understand what these networks are (including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), how they function, and what they offer to support communication and collaboration around advocacy. Guidance and concrete examples of how individuals and organizations can most productively engage with social networks assist advocates in making the most of these tools.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Resources
- Become a fan of the Shriver Center on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shrivercenter
- Follow the Shriver Center on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shrivercenter
By Matthew Burnett and Katherine Bladow
Case Note: California Litigation Vindicates Rights of Tenants Who Operate Family Day Care Homes
Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.

By Claire M. Ramsey
Case Note: New York District Court Rules that Fair Housing Amendments Act May Require "Economic Accommodations"
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By Michael Weisberg
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 and Employment: Practical Strategies
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Amendments Act of 2008’s positive changes in the ADA affect how advocates practicing employment law handle disability cases. The ADA now more broadly defines “disability” and changes the pleading rules for establishing disability, excludes the effects of mitigating measures and accounts for conditions that are episodic or in remission, changes the definition of “major life activity,” and modifies the “regarded as” and reasonable-accommodation analysis.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- "Should They Be Asking Me That?": Advising People with Disabilities About the ADA's Inquiry and Examination Provisions, by Barry C. Taylor
- Disability Rights Law: Roots, Present Challenges, and Future Collaborations, by Arlene Mayerson
- An Employment Law Agenda: A Road Map for Legal Services Advocates, by Sharon Dietrich, Catherine Ruckelshaus, Jim Williams, Rick McHugh, Rachel Paster, and Michele Palter
By Claudia Center and Brian East
Why Women Are Poor in Retirement: Sources of Support and Income in Retirement
Despite the overall decline in poverty rates among older Americans during the past few decades, the likelihood of a woman being poor in retirement increases with age. Older single women and minority women are especially at risk. Retirement income used to depend on social security, pensions, and savings. However, many older women are finding that they need to add work or public benefits or both to move toward retirement security.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Older Women and Income Security, by Burton D. Fretz, Vicki Gottlich, and Shannon Schmoyer
- Ten Pension Guidelines to Prevent Poverty Among Older Women, by Vicki Gottlich, M. Cindy Hounsell, and Dianna Porter
By Cindy Hounsell
Integrating Asset-Building Strategies into Domestic Violence Advocacy
Creating long-term asset-building policies that cognitively and financially empower survivors can be a powerful tool in domestic violence advocacy. Financial dependency and lack of financial knowledge are disincentives to leaving abusive relationships. Case studies here demonstrate that asset-building strategies can and should be integrated into advocacy on behalf of domestic violence survivors.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Reforming State Rules on Asset Limits: How to Remove Barriers to Saving and Asset Accumulation in Public Benefit Programs, by Dory Rand
- Public Policy and Asset Building: Promising Account-Based Systems and the Rationale for Inclusion, by Reid Cramer
- Employment Protection for Domestic Violence Victims, by Wendy R. Weiser and Deborah A. Widiss
By Andrea Kovach
News and Notes
Fostering Connections to Success: Extending a Social Safety Net for Youths Facing Homelessness and Poverty
Congress passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act last year to improve the lives and prospects of foster children. The Act extends to 21 the age at which youths may receive government benefits, requires that children leaving state care develop a transition plan, and provides more court oversight for this transition. Attorneys can help apply the Act’s provisions in such ways as enforcing a youth’s rights, monitoring transition efforts, and preparing the youth for court proceedings.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Adolescents, the Foster Care System, and the Transition to Adulthood: What Legal Aid Lawyers Need to Know, by Alice Bussiere, Jennifer Pokempner, and Jennifer Troia
- From Street Lawyering to Systemic Lawyering: Meeting the Basic Needs of Unaccompanied and Homeless Youth Through Systemic Legal Advocacy, by Casey Trupin and Richard A. Wayman
By Jennifer Pokempner, Jennifer Rodriguez, and Alice Bussiere
Defending Mortgage Foreclosures: Seeking a Role for Equity
The creative application of equitable principles in mortgage foreclosure actions will benefit homeowners, lenders, and the economy at large, mitigating the effects of the foreclosure crisis. Mortgage securitization has so fractured ownership that lenders often cannot agree among themselves, let alone agree to a workout with the homeowner, instead proceeding to foreclosure event when it is not in their best interests to do so. Equity allows courts to examine the actions of all parties to the foreclosure, consider public policy, and weigh the benefits and hardships that will flow from the courts’ decisions—allowing the courts to prevent foreclosure where statutes or common law would not.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Defending Foreclosure Evictions, by Maeve Elise Brown and Lisa Sitkin
- Strength in Numbers: Legal Advocates and Community Organizers Partner to Fight Foreclosures, by Antonio Hicks
- Foreclosure Defense: Understanding TILA Basics Is Essential, by Mark Ireland
- Legal Aid Attorneys and the Foreclosure Crisis, by Ira Rheingold
- Minnesota Tenants Gain More Rights in Foreclosure Through Legislative Task Force Collaboration, by Lawrence R. McDonough
- See also the archive of two foreclosure-related webinars produced by the editorial staff of Clearinghouse Review
By David A. Super
Increasing Court Access Through Fee-Waiver Reform: California's Model
The due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment grants indigent people the right to access the courts. However, the rising cost of court fees and constant fee-waiver denials make it impossible for them to assert this right. Because the courts handle fee waivers in wildly different ways, a uniform fee-waiver system may help clear up confusion and ensure that , no matter where indigent people live, they have access to fee waivers and thus access to the courts.

Copies of this article are available for individual purchase online for $15 apiece.
Related Articles
- Archive of articles on federal court access
By Phong S. Wong and Richard Rothschild

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