A Summer at Greater Boston Legal Services

Audra Heagney '06 Shares Her Experience Representing a Welfare Recipient

"The gratitude that we received from them, as well as knowing that I had made a difference in someone's life, no matter how small, truly made this past summer rewarding and unforgettable."
Audra Heagney
Class of 2006

"Diane" was the first client that my supervisor assigned to me during my first week at Greater Boston Legal Services. My supervisor told me that Diane would be a good representation of the host of problems that attorneys in the Welfare Law Unit encountered on a daily basis. Diane was a frequent client of GBLS, but she had just recently opened a new case with my supervisor. I sat in on Diane's intake session with my supervisor, in which she told us about her life in great detail.

At 23 years old, Diane had encountered more hardship than I could imagine enduring in an entire lifetime. Diane has four children under the age of 6; two of the children are the result of rape. Diane is a domestic violence survivor, and is afraid to be in public places for fear that one of her several batterers will find her. However, those were not the issues for which she required legal help - instead, she came to us because the Department of Transitional Assistance DTA - Massachusetts' welfare department) informed her that they were reducing the amount of welfare benefits she received unless she obtained a job and worked at least twenty hours a week. Diane survived month to month on an extremely low amount of money, and now she was going to be forced to survive on even less unless she found a job, as well as affordable child care.

Luckily, Diane had a legal solution available to her. Massachusetts regulations have a caretaker exception to the welfare work requirements. If a person is the primary caretaker for someone who needs care twenty-four hours a day, they are not required to work in order to receive the full amount of their welfare benefits.

Diane's youngest son had cerebral palsy, and required care around the clock. I worked with her son's doctors to assemble the necessary documentation that the welfare department required before they would permit an exemption. The welfare department accepted our documentation, and granted Diane an exemption, allowing her to remain at home with her children full-time, yet still receiving the maximum amount of benefits to which she was entitled. However, like most of GBLS' clients, Diane's problems did not have a simple solution, and she was back in my office within a week. This time because both the electric and gas companies had contacted her threatening to shut off her services, because she had extremely large outstanding bills. I worked with Diane and the utility companies to prevent the termination of her services, obtained a low-income discount with the companies, and then worked with several charitable organizations to raise funds to pay off her outstanding bills.

Diane's wide realm of problems was unfortunately not unique amongst the clients that I worked with over the past summer. A large number of clients had disabilities which rendered them unable to work, yet the welfare department would frequently terminate their benefits, leaving our clients to prove once again that they were indeed disabled. Unfortunately, our clients could not afford exceptional medical care, and their doctors were not always the most willing participants in our quest to ensure that our clients received the benefits to which they were entitled.

Within a few weeks it was easy to spot the numerous amounts of problems that plagued welfare recipients. Our clients, who were already starting at a disadvantage due to disabilities, domestic violence, immigrant status, and chronic poverty, are forced to navigate a dense system of welfare regulations that were extremely confusing to me even with a year of law school under my belt. Additionally, the Department of Transitional Assistance workers were not extremely helpful, and other state agencies that are supposed to participate in welfare programs were riddled with bureaucratic problems. Attorneys that had been working with GBLS in the welfare department for years frequently grew frustrated with the welfare system and all of its inefficiencies that made it extremely difficult for us to resolve our clients' problems. After witnessing the problems that seasoned attorneys encountered in figuring out the system, I cannot imagine how welfare recipients manage on their own, without the help of an advocate. However, due to a lack of staff, GBLS turns down three out of five potential clients that come seeking their services. So there are plenty of welfare recipients managing on their own.

I initially found my summer job by doing a broad search online and via contacts for public interest placements in the Boston area. The position at GBLS sounded the most interesting of all the placements, and I had heard wonderful things about internships at GBLS from attorneys that I had worked with previously. My job this summer met and exceeded all of my expectations. I was given an overwhelming amount of responsibility almost immediately, yet I was fortunate enough to be working with extremely supportive, dedicated attorneys. There was never a question that I didn't feel that I could ask, and any email inquiry was immediately met with several helpful responses. Additionally, the welfare unit had only nine attorneys and four interns, so I had the benefit of working with a very close-knit group of people within a larger organization.

I truly cannot say enough positive things about my summer experience. I learned so much, both about welfare law, as well as how to act as an advocate for clients. I met fascinating people, both the attorneys that I worked with as well as the clients. Although I will take several memories away from my experience, the one that will remain with me the most is Diane calling me before the beginning of the Democratic National Convention, which was taking place a half block away from the office. (GBLS was unfortunately located in the designated "bomb zone.") Despite all of the problems Diane was dealing with, she thought to call me and ask if I felt safe, and to tell me to please be careful during the week of the DNC. And this was true of all of our clients - despite their problems, they were always so grateful for our help and concerned about us. The gratitude that we received from them, as well as knowing that I had made a difference in someone's life, no matter how small, truly made this past summer rewarding and unforgettable.