by Kathy Para
JBA Pro Bono Committee Chair
Pro Bono Spotlight
When Don Robinson was 10 years old, his mother died. With an absentee father, he and his five siblings were basically orphaned. Fortunately for the Eastside Jacksonville youths, they had caring extended family members all around them.
“If it weren’t for them, we probably would have been put into the foster home system and been all split up,” he said.
Today, due in no small part to that family safety net that saved him and his siblings, Robinson is a successful attorney with a solo practice in Downtown Jacksonville. And when it comes to pro bono work, there’s little doubt where this attorney focuses his attention. Robinson, and other socially conscious lawyers like him, assists these caring family members by helping them negotiate the legalities of obtaining temporary relative custody of the children that have fallen into their care.
“It’s a personal thing for me,” he says. “What I do is really nothing compared to what they’re doing. But I think it helps some.”
The need for temporary relative custody usually occurs when parents, for whatever reason, are not able to care for their children.
“Typically,” said attorney Heather Solanka of Akerman Senterfitt, “what you get is grandma trying to get temporary legal guardianship of her grandchildren for a host of reasons — none of which are usually any good: dad’s in jail, mom’s on drugs, mom’s in jail.
“And grandma now needs to try to get the kids into school, or get them medical care, or apply for some kind of benefits. And to do all of this, she needs to be the legal guardian. That’s where Legal Aid steps in.”
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) gets hundreds of requests for this service every year, and it’s only with the help of pro bono attorneys that it is able to meet the demand. But many more are needed.
“It’s such an incredibly important process for these family members,” said Sarah Fowler, of Pro Bono JALA. “These good people are going above and beyond for these kids and the least we can do is to try to make that burden just a little lighter by helping them through the legal process.”
Obtaining temporary relative custody is a relatively minor process for an attorney, but it is something that means a lot to the people who need it, said Ryan Maloney, a commercial litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner.
“You get a lot of satisfaction out of it,” he said. “The people who are already taking care of the children voluntarily — people who have made the effort to come into Legal Aid — are people who really care about the kid, and they are always jubilant when you get it done. And you get a lot of satisfaction because you know the kids are with the best person that there is to take care of them, and you’re getting something done for them to kind of make them feel at ease.”
In addition, said Solanka, temporary relative custody cases are typically pretty short and sweet. Both she and Maloney cut their legal teeth on such cases when they first got out of law school.
“They’re really good cases for young lawyers,” said Maloney, “It kind of helps get their feet wet. It’s not a huge time commitment. The young lawyers get to go in front of a judge, do a direct examination in front of the judge — many of the things that you do as a litigator.
“And the judges are all very appreciative of the fact that you’re doing it, and they’re going to give you some leeway.”
Also, the pro bono temporary relative custody cases are almost never contested, said Solanka.
“It’s just a few hours of work spread over a couple of months,” she said. “Yet, in comparison, the end result — knowing you’ve done something meaningful for a child, a family, as well as society — is so very large.”
Don Robinson, an Eastside boy raised by his grandmother and extended family, knows this.
“When they come to me after the judge signs the custody order, they’re always so very grateful for what I have done,” he said. “And it’s important work. But when they thank me, I can’t help but turn it around and say, ‘No ma’am. Thank you.’”
For more information on pro bono opportunities in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, contact Kathy Para, chair of the JBA Pro Bono Committee at [email protected], 356-8371, ext. 363.
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