Children from low-income families who suffer from asthma, behavior and learning disorders, and other illnesses now will have both doctors and lawyers fighting to help them stay healthy. The Family Advocacy Program at the Boston Medical Center, which brings doctors and lawyers together to combat health problems associated with poverty, is expanding to thirty communities throughout the nation. Funded by private philanthropic organizations like the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program will be known as the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children. Founded in 1993, the Boston program, which is serving as a nation-wide model, started because doctors often felt powerless to undo the root causes of childhood illnesses, like undernourishment, and moldy, rodent-infested apartments. Lawyers can help "uncouple poverty and the effects that poverty has on kids' health," says Dr. Lauren A. Smith, medical director of the Boston program. For example, a child suffering from asthma or severe allergies may breathe easier if a lawyer is available to force the landlord to fix a faulty furnace or prevent second-hand smoke from reaching the child's home from another apartment. While doctors can treat children with learning disabilities, lawyers can ensure that public schools provide the special educational services to which they are entitled. Dr. Barry Zuckerman, founder of the Boston program, says, "This is a way of changing pediatric care for low-income families."

Sacha Pfeiffer, BMC to Go National With Legal Aid Program, Boston Globe, Apr. 10, 2006.