In addition to helping individual victims and providing mutual training, healthcare professionals and legal advocates can also work together to advocate for change on a larger scale. In 2010 in Cleveland the local medical legal partnership approached the city council asking them to pass a resolution supporting the U-Visa program. Before this, the council members had never heard of U-Visas. After the resolution was passed, the council and mayor understood the importance of U-Visas. The medical legal partnership also educated the public about U-Visas, helping to get the word out about this form of assistance to undocumented victims of violent crime.51
A Medical Legal Partnership was created in 2011 between Neighborhood Health Services (NHS), a non-profit clinic that assists low-income and uninsured members of the Tallahassee community, the Florida State University College of Law’s Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and FSU’s College of Medicine. Doctors, nurses, and therapists at NHS refer patients that they believe may have legal needs that are affecting their health to PILC, where law students under my supervision work to determine and address their legal needs. So far the most common legal need has been assistance with a Social Security Disability application or appeal, but in almost all cases there has been one unexpected but very real benefit to the patients/clients. Healthcare professionals have too many patients to spend the
sometimes several hours talking with and listening to patients/clients that law students have available. The student attorneys also often gather medical records from many sources for the patients/clients, giving them broader pictures of the issues they are facing. These extended conversations and research have helped the students identify and address issues facing the clients that otherwise might not have come to light for their treating physicians.
The Medical Legal Partnership between NHS and PILC is still fairly new and we have not yet tackled any human trafficking cases, but we hope to be available when they arise to help the victims find security and rebuild their lives. The crime of human trafficking thrives in an atmosphere of indifference. Together, we can tackle this scourge head on and provide much needed care to the most exploited and marginalized members of our state and our society.
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1 By Wendi Adelson, Esq.(Director of the Medical Legal Partnership Clinic at Florida State University College of Law, and author of This is Our Story, a novel that chronicles the lives of her clients — who were victims of trafficking — and the attorney who assists them) and Sara Mangan, second year law student at Florida State University College of Law.
2 Doctors at War, Human Trafficking Facts – Tragic Truths (2009), available at http://doctorsatwar.org/human-
trafficking-facts.php.
3 Brett Clarkson, Florida is a hub for human traffickers, attorney general says, SUN SENTINEL, September
23, 2012, available at http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-09-23/news/fl-human-trafficking-pam-bondi-
20120921_1_human-attorney-general-pam-bondi-south-florida.
4 Id.
5 Florida Department of Children and Families, Human Trafficking Statistics in Florida, 5, available at http://
www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/humantrafficking/docs/ContinuedPresence.pdf.
6 Florida Department of Children and Families, Human Trafficking Statistics in Florida, 6, available at http://
www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/humantrafficking/docs/ContinuedPresence.pdf.
7 Id.
8 T.K. Logan, Robert Walker, & Gretchen Hunt, Understanding Human Trafficking, 10 Violence, Trauma, Abuse No. 1, 11 (2009).
9 Polaris Project, Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery, available at http://
www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/international-trafficking.
10 U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, Human Trafficking Questions and Answers, available
at http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/labour/Forced_labour/HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_-
_BACKGROUND_BRIEFING_NOTE_-_final.pdf.
16
Doctors at War, Human Trafficking Facts – Tragic Truths (2009), available at http://doctorsatwar.org/human-
trafficking-facts.php.
12 Tiffany Dovydiatis, RN, WHCNP, Human Trafficking: The Role of the Health Care Provider, 55 Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, 462, 463 (2010).
13 Id. at 463.
14 Id. at 463.
15 T.K. Logan, Robert Walker, & Gretchen Hunt, Understanding Human Trafficking, 10 Violence, Trauma, Abuse No.1, 10 (2009).
16 Donna Sabella, PhD, RN, The Role of the Nurse in Combating Human Trafficking, 111 AJN Feb 2011, No. 2, 34.
17Kimberly K. Trout, PhD, RN, CNM, Human Trafficking, the Role of Nurses in Indentifying and Helping Victims, 65 Pennsylvania Nurse, No. 4, 18, 18 (2010).
18 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Look
Beneath the Surface: Healthcare Providers, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/
health_care_providers_english.pdf.
19 Donna Sabella, PhD, RN, The Role of the Nurse in Combating Human Trafficking, 111 AJN Feb 2011, No. 2, 34 – 35
20 Id. at 35.
21 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Look Beneath
the Surface: Social Service Organizations, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/
health_care_providers_english.pdf.
22 Dorchen A. Leidholdt, Interviewing and Assisting Trafficking Survivors, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON HUMAN
TRAFFICKING 170 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchenhttp://www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at.
23 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Look Beneath
the Surface: Social Service Organizations, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/
health_care_providers_english.pdf.
24 Id.
25 Dorchen A. Leidholdt, Interviewing and Assisting Trafficking Survivors, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON HUMAN
TRAFFICKING 171-2 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://
www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf.
26 Safe Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Look Beneath the Surface: Social Service Organizations, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/health_care_providers_english.pdf.
28 Safe Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), 16, available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
29 30 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Look Beneath
the Surface: Social Service Organizations, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/orr/
health_care_providers_english.pdf.
31 Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), 15, available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
32 Id.
33 Safe Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), 20, available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
34 Id.
35 Safe Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), 18, available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
36 Id.
37 Id.
38 Id.
39 Safe Horizon, Recognizing Human Trafficking, Guidelines for Healthcare Providers (PPT), 19, available at http://
www.nyc.gov/html/endht/html/how/professionals.shtml
40 Id.
41 National Center for Medical Legal Partnership, Medical Legal Partnership: A New Standard for Care, page 2, available at http://www.mintz.com/media/pnc/3/media.2463.pdf.
42ELIZABETH TOBIN TYLER, POVERTY, HEALTH, AND LAW: READINGS AND CASES FOR MEDICAL-LEGAL
PARTNERSHIP 339 (2011).
43 Amanda Norejko, Representing Adult Trafficking Victims in Family Offense, Custody, and Abuse/Neglect Cases,
in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING 195 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf.
44 Id.
45 Kathleen Slocum, Immigration Remedies for Victims of Human Trafficking, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON
HUMAN TRAFFICKING 214 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://
www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf.
46 Immigration Options for Undocumented Immigrant Children, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 2010
47 Kathleen Slocum, Immigration Remedies for Victims of Human Trafficking, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON
HUMAN TRAFFICKING 222 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://
www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf
48 Dorchen A. Leidholtd, Interviewing and Assisting Trafficking Survivors, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON
HUMAN TRAFFICKING 177 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://
www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf
49 Dorchen A. Leidholdt, Interviewing and Assisting Trafficking Survivors, in LAWYER’S MANUAL ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING 176 (Jill Laurie Goodman and Dorchen A. Leidholdt, eds., 2011), available at http://www.nycourts.gov/ip/womeninthecourts/LMHT.pdf
50 SAMANTHA MORTON, JD, MEGAN SPRECHER, JD, LYNDA SHUSTER, MSW, LICSW, ELLEN COHEN, MD, POVERTY, HEALTH, AND LAW: READINGS AND CASES FOR MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP, (Elizabeth Tobin Tyler, et al, ed.) 330, (2011)
51 SAMANTHA MORTON, JD, MEGAN SPRECHER, JD, LYNDA SHUSTER, MSW, LICSW, ELLEN COHEN, MD, POVERTY, HEALTH, AND LAW: READINGS AND CASES FOR MEDICAL-LEGAL PARTNERSHIP, (Elizabeth Tobin Tyler, et al, ed.) 340 – 342, (2011).
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