Health Care, Disability and Elder Law
In cooperation with the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Schiff Hardin has been counsel for a class of 34,000 abused and neglected children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Our attorneys obtained a consent decree requiring the Department to provide the children in its custody with minimally adequate care.
Also in cooperation with the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), our firm has brought a class action suit on behalf of certain individuals who have been subject to involuntary commitment into the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services. The suit alleges that these committed individuals are not receiving appropriate mental health treatment as required by the United States Constitution.
Additionally, Schiff Hardin has joined a group of legal advocacy organizations in a lawsuit challenging the improper placement of individuals with mental illness in nursing homes. The lawsuit charges that hundreds of New York residents with mental illness, but no need for nursing care, have been discharged from New York State psychiatric hospitals to nursing homes in and around New York State in recent years. While in the nursing homes, most of these individuals live in locked wards and receive grossly inadequate psychiatric and social work care. The lawsuit resulted from a year-long investigation conducted by Schiff Hardin, Disability Advocates, Inc., New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc. and Mental Hygiene Legal Service, Second Department.
Glenkirk Foundation
In cooperation with the Glenkirk Foundation, we have represented developmentally disabled people in Chicago's northern suburbs in connection with employment discrimination matters.
The Glenkirk Foundation's mission is to provide quality, lifetime support and services that empower individuals with developmental disabilities to participate fully in all areas of community life.
Schiff Hardin was honored by The Glenkirk Foundation in 1998 and 2002 with their "Volunteer Service Award."
For more information on the Glenkirk Foundation, visit their Web site: http://www.glenkirk.org/.
The Pro Bono Center for Disability and Elder Law
We handled several matters for the The Pro Bono Center for Disability and Elder Law. These matters include:
- efforts to obtain cancellation of an amount due to the Social Security Administration, which had been deducted from our client's social security check after she had already paid it,
- obtaining cancellation of a student loan due to our client's disability, and claims that food stamp allotments were improperly reduced because she received an insurance payment for property damage to her house.
Schiff Hardin's work was honored with The Pro Bono Center for Disability and Elder Law's "2006 Volunteer of the Year Award" and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois "2006 Annual Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Award."
For more information on The Pro Bono Center for Disability and Elder Law, visit their Web site: http://www.probonocdel.org/.
