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Are you a grandparent or other relative caring for a child?  If so, New York Office of Children and Family Services currently runs the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (KinGap).  This program helps a foster child have permanent placement with a relative who had been the child’s foster parent for at least six months.   The program provides financial support and medical coverage (in most cases), from the time the child is discharged from foster care to the guardian.  The level of financial support is similar to the maintenance payments received while the child was in foster care.To

The scourge of foreclosure continues to plague New York state and New York City residents. A recent report by the New York State Senate says nearly 30,000 NYC homeowners could soon lose their homes to foreclosure proceedings. While the foreclosure rate has gone down around the country as the national housing crisis subsides, it has increased by 15 percent in New York City over the past year. In fact, foreclosure activity has gone up by 21% over the past 23 months. New York's minority community has been disproportionately affected by this crisis.

The HEAP NY Funding Assistance for Air Conditioners has launched.  Eligible New Yorkers should apply to see if they qualify.  [caption id="attachment_4544" align="alignleft" width="300"] HEAP Funding Assistance For Air Conditioners[/caption]The Cooling Assistance Component of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) began on May 1.  This means that New Yorkers can now contact their local department of social services to see if they qualify for assistance.

[caption id="attachment_6136" align="alignleft" width="274"] Map charts domestic violence cases in New York City.[/caption]Who would have imagined that the primary killer of women in NYC is domestic violence!  Even with all the awareness, education, and dedicated community groups, in 2012, 68% of all murders of women in our city were related to domestic violence, up from 54% in 2011.  The highest rates of domestic violence are taking place in Brooklyn and the Bronx.What more can be done to help these vulnerable women?  What can be done to stop the increase in domestic violence cases?  Th

Foreclosure-rescue scam artists are finding new ways to prey on distressed homeowners. In many cases, they ask you to pay for a fee upfront and then never provide any services or save your home from foreclosure.  

Low-income New Yorkers get an easy, on-the-go way to access legal aid referrals, information, and self-help New York, New York – June 26, 2014 A new mobile site for LawHelpNY.org will make it easier than ever to find needed legal aid assistance and information for low-income New Yorkers. Launched this week, the mobile site, http://m.lawhelpny.org/, features quick access to free legal aid referrals, know-your-rights information and a variety of self-help tools.

LawHelpNY and the New York State Office of Court Administration now make available a number of free online interactive self-help programs that make it easier to submit legal papers in court if you don’t have an attorney.The interviews are designed to ask “leading questions” to help ensure that what you submit in court is legally correct. Did you know that most people who have to answer an eviction lawsuit in court do so without an attorney?

It’s no secret that finding affordable housing in New York City is getting harder and harder. According to the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, over 200,000 rent regulated apartments have been lost since 1981. More so, landlords continue to use tactics such as buying out tenants, locking them out of their apartments, or making major improvements in order to deregulate even more rent-stabilized apartments.But residents of NYC have rights!

Homelessness in New York is on the rise.  The total number of homeless individuals in shelters was 50,926 in June 2013.  It's not a surprise that the most commented blog post on our blog is our blog on Homelessness.  This blog is meant to help answer the multiple numbers of questions we received in regards to issues related to homelessness.1. What are my child’s educational rights when we are placed in a shelter?

At some point in your life, you may find yourself needing to complete a living will and health care proxy form for either yoursel