Posted on: Wednesday, March 17, 2004

EDITORIAL
Indigent legal services are starving to death

Everyone, regardless of income level, has to deal with the legal system. And one of the great ironies of life is that those with the least resources need the most representation, but cannot afford it.

To some extent, legal aid helps narrow that discrepancy.

And so it's troubling to hear that the few organizations in Hawai'i that seek to bridge the gap between affluent and poor are going out of business because of federal cutbacks to social service programs.

Volunteer Legal Services Hawai'i (VLSH) has lost the support of Americorps, a national service program that is supposed to serve as the domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps.

Americorps turned down a VLSH grant request for $312,100 last year, prompting the elimination of 15 full-time positions.

That has squeezed such critical indigent legal services as Na Keiki Law Center, which deals with child support and custody cases, and Ala Kuola, a program to help victims of domestic violence, which was responsible for securing one of every four temporary restraining orders issued in Honolulu last year.

If not for Na Keiki, Mary Scott-Lau might not have gained permanent custody of her 11-year-old foster son. She says the boy "would be really and truly on the streets. He would have fallen through the cracks," according to a report by Advertiser staff writer Vicki Viotti.

In coming weeks, VLSH will learn whether it has won a $300,000 federal grant to be issued by the state Office of Community Services. Without that money, Na Keiki and perhaps even Ala Kuola may not survive.

If that happens, and we hope it doesn't, we'd like to see the Hawai'i State Bar Association and the University of Hawai'i Richardson School of Law step in and help out. After all, someone's going to have to fill the gap.