Multidisciplinary legal representation (MLR) integrates social services staff into legal representation for low-income clients in child welfare dependency cases. Social workers in this model provide various services, such as helping clients access services ordered in case plans when their children have been removed from their care due to allegations of abuse, abandonment, or neglect. This model may also include the use of parent peer advocates, who are individuals that previously had their child removed from their care, but who have successfully reunified with the child for more than two years and have received specialized training.

By Fiscal Year 2022-23, all five regional counsels were providing MLR services in some child welfare dependency cases, and the number of cases served by the MLR programs had increased in those providing data for both fiscal years. However, the percentage of all dependency cases to which MLR services are assigned remains low, in part due to the delay in the dispersal of federal Title IV-E funds by the Department of Children and Families.

The time at which MLR services were added to cases varies, with a majority receiving services within three months of removal. Children of parents served by MLR programs tend to be younger but are similar in terms of race and sex to children of parents not served by MLR. The two groups are also similar in terms of prior history with the child welfare system, with the MLR group having slightly more cases involving children with prior in-home care cases. Finally, children of parents served by MLR have higher percentages of several types of alleged maltreatments, such as those involving domestic violence.

Social services staff are covered by attorney/client privilege and provide a broad array of services. Some of these include helping clients understand the process, helping clients access services required by the case plan, facilitating communication, and attending meetings and hearings with clients. Regional counsel staff described multiple benefits of the MLR approach, including more cases closing through parental reunification or through permanent guardianship with a relative, shortened time to reunification, and courts granting unsupervised visitation.

Review of Multidisciplinary Legal Representation of Parents in Dependency Proceedings
Report 22-07 December 2022

Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.