FY27 Budget Testimony: Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants

Children’s Law Center Director of Special Legal Projects Kathy Zeisel testified before the DC Council’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. Her testimony highlighted the significant impact of the funding provided to the DC Bar Foundation for the Access to Justice and Civil Legal Counsel Program grants.

At Children’s Law Center, these funds support our innovative medical-legal partnerships and our family stabilization and permanency program. Last year, we reached over 3,700 children and families and trained 1,500 medical staff, and community members with the ATJ and CLCPP funds. We helped to stabilize families by acting as GALs in complex custody cases and we ensured that families had the road map in their family law case when the future is daunting and uncertain.

And, these funds are a smart return on investment. In fact, our research has shown that our legal interventions save three dollars in Medicaid for every dollar spent, avoiding $14.1 million in Medicaid costs over three years.