Legal Resources

If you wish to press charges against your program or a person from your program, you will need to look up your state’s statute of limitations to give yourself a timeline. You will also need to find an attorney who will take your case for free or a sliding scale payment. Some pro bono attorneys offer this. You will need to call the pro bono attorneys, explain your situation and case, and ask about payment options.

• Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center – This team provides young people who have experienced foster care, juvenile justice, homelessness, or other instability with the critical legal advocacy, support, and resources they need to overcome these challenges and see a clearer path to adulthood.
• Children’s Law Center of California – Children’s Law Center of California (CLC) provides legal representation for children and youth impacted by abuse and neglect. We advocate for our clients by supporting families; fighting for reunification, permanence, educational opportunity, health, and mental health wellness; and empowering and strengthening children, families, and their communities. Our informed approach to advocacy makes us a powerful voice in local, statewide, and national child welfare system reform.
• Legal Aid – Learn what questions to ask when choosing a lawyer. And find organizations that give free legal advice and may help you find a free or low-cost attorney.
• Legal Services Corporation – LSC is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 132 independent nonprofit legal aid organizations in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories.
• Law Help – Find legal aid in your community for people with low incomes
• American Bar Association – Find free legal aid near you and get answers to your legal questions. These services are for people with low to moderate incomes
• NDRN – Locate legal advocacy service providers by state for people with disabilities
• Children’s Rights – Every day, children are harmed by America’s broken child welfare, juvenile justice, education, and healthcare systems. Through relentless strategic advocacy and legal action, they hold governments accountable for keeping kids safe and healthy. Children’s Rights has made a lasting impact, protecting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children and we are poised to help millions more.
• Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates – The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates is an independent national American association of parents of children with disabilities, attorneys, advocates, and related professionals who protect the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities and their families.
• Disability Rights Legal Center – Founded in 1975, Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC) is a 501C-3 non-profit, public interest advocacy organization that champions the civil rights of people with disabilities as well as those affected by cancer. DRLC is a leader in bringing cutting-edge cases to court and in winning victories to protect and to expand the rights of people to help eliminate discrimination and other legal barriers.
• National Center for Youth Law – National Center for Youth Law believes in the incredible power, agency, and wisdom of youth. Driven by their voices and experiences, they have worked for more than 50 years to transform government agencies and public systems, so that they Center Youth with equity, dignity, and care. NCYL works to ensure children and youth in foster care benefit from a positive and stable home-like environment. They dismantle practices that harm children in foster care, ensure youth in foster care have access to health care and education, and promote youth-, community-, and family-centered policies that preserve families and reduce reliance on the foster care system. NCYL works to transform the youth justice system so that it better embodies true justice and equity for children. They advance community-based, health-centered alternatives to harmful system practices and build towards a culture in which the system treats children as children.
• Center for Public Representation – CPR is dedicated to enforcing and expanding the rights of people with disabilities and others who are in segregated settings. CPR uses legal strategies, advocacy, and policy to design and implement systemic reform initiatives to promote their integration and full community participation. Working on state, national and international levels, CPR is committed to equality, diversity and social justice in all its activities.
• Children’s Advocacy Institute – The Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI), founded at the nonprofit University of San Diego School of Law in 1989, is an academic, research, and advocacy law firm. CAI represents the interests and rights of children and youth in impact litigation, legislative and regulatory advocacy, research and public education projects, and public service programs. CAI’s academic component trains law students and attorneys to be effective child advocates. Active at both the state and federal levels, CAI’s advocacy program seeks to improve the status, health and well-being of children and youth in all areas of their lives, with special emphasis on improving the child protection and foster care systems and enhancing resources that are available to youth aging out of foster care and homeless youth.
• Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment And Appeals Project – DV LEAP makes the law work for survivors of domestic violence by challenging unjust trial outcomes; advancing legal protections through expert pro bono advocacy; training lawyers, advocates, and judges on best practices; and spearheading domestic violence litigation in the Supreme Court.
• National Center for Victims of Crime – The National Center for Victims of Crime is a nonprofit organization that advocates for victims’ rights, trains professionals who work with victims, and serves as a trusted source of information on victims’ issues. After more than 35 years, we remain the most comprehensive national resource committed to advancing victims’ rights and helping victims of crime rebuild their lives. The National Center is, at its core, an advocacy organization committed to — and working on behalf of — crime victims and their families. Rather than focus the entire organization’s work on one type of crime or victim, the National Center addresses all types of crime.
• Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law – They employ cutting-edge litigation to effect progressive systemic change and impact public policy. They secured early legal precedents creating basic civil rights for people with mental disabilities—including the rights to a public education, receive services in community-based settings instead of institutions, and make decisions about one’s own care. The Center was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990) and played a key role in the historic case of Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), in which the Supreme Court found that needless segregation of people with psychiatric disabilities violates the ADA.
• Impact Fund – The Impact Fund was founded in December 1992, and their mission is to provide grants, advocacy, and education to support impact litigation on behalf of communities seeking economic, environmental, racial, and social justice.
• Lambda Legal – Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, better known as Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) through impact litigation, societal education, and public policy work.
• Low Income Legal Q + A – This site lets people with low incomes ask questions online and have a lawyer answer them. They will not answer questions involving crimes
• Call USAGov at 1-844-USA-GOV1 (1-844-872-4681) to ask any question about the U.S. government for free. They will get you the answer or tell you where to find it. Open between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.
• Definition of Legal Age of Majority – Information about the legal age
• Miranda Rights – These guides will help youth, law enforcement, and school staff to understand the rights youth have during police interrogations to ensure outcomes are just and lawful, create greater trust, accountability, and due process for all.

Is there a resource we are missing? Please email us at info@unsilenced.org so we may add it.