Family Stories

Advocating for Improved Housing Conditions: A teenager was referred to FAP because of severe and persistent asthma. The teen’s family lived in an apartment infested with rats and cockroaches that had an old carpet covering the floor and mold on the walls. These housing conditions violated housing codes and exacerbated the teen’s asthma. Despite appropriate asthma treatment, he was still having difficulty breathing because of the allergens in his home.

Working together, the Peninsula Family Advocacy Program lawyer and the family’s pediatrician wrote a letter to the landlord explaining the habitability violations, their impact on the teen’s health, the exact housing regulations the landlord was violating, and requesting that the landlord make the appropriate repairs. Within a week of receiving the letter, the landlord had hired an exterminator, put in new wallboard, and replaced the old carpet with linoleum. The mother reports that her son says he can breathe more easily now.

Challenging Inappropriate School Discipline: The mother of a toddler with cancer was referred to FAP for help securing SSI disability benefits for him. Once the problems with her son’s SSI had been resolved, the mother began to discuss problems her daughter had been having in kindergarten. The daughter had been very upset since her younger brother became sick and had been having behavioral problems at school. The school was unwilling to provide
support services and eventually suspended the daughter for the entire year without a hearing. FAP worked with the family and a pro bono lawyer trained to handle school discipline cases. The daughter is now back in kindergarten with support, and the mother knows that the school cannot suspend her daughter without following legally-mandated procedures.

Securing Disability Benefits: A single mother of a child with a brain deformity was referred to FAP by her hospital social worker. Her child had needed several surgeries since infancy and was hospitalized at the time the referral was made. Because she had to take her child to frequent medical appointments and accompany her during her hospitalization, she was
unable to work full-time. The child received SSI disability benefits, which was the family’s principal income. Almost a year after the SSI was first approved, the mother received a letter stating that she had erroneously been receiving too much in SSI payments (an overpayment), that she owed thousands of dollars to Social Security, and that the SSI payments would stop.

By reviewing the situation, the Peninsula Family Advocacy Program discovered that the Social Security Administration had made an error. FAP helped the mother ask for a
waiver of the overpayment and wrote a letter to advocate that the SSI payments continue while the mistake was corrected. Because of this advocacy, the family’s SSI payments were reinstated and the mother was able to take care of her family. Within three months the Social Security Administration dropped the overpayment charges.

Advocating for a Reasonable Modification: This winter in East
Palo Alto FAP helped a little boy breathe easier. Moises, a seven-year-old, had persistent allergies and asthma. Moises’s mother Angelica took him to the doctor at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and discussed with his pediatrician her concern that Moises’s asthma and allergies were caused by the carpeting in their
apartment. Moise suffered from various symptoms, including chronic nasal congestion, persistent headaches, and dizziness. Although Angelica had made repeated requests, the landlord had refused to remove the carpet in their apartment.

The pediatrician referred Angelica to FAP for help. FAP
evaluated the situation and researched the housing laws to
help the family advocate for healthier housing. Together with the pediatrician, FAP wrote a letter requesting a reasonable modification of the apartment for Moises’s condition. The landlord responded quickly to the letter and replaced the dirty carpet with linoleum floors. Angelica was relieved that the allergen was removed from her home and grateful to FAP for the help.