Legal aid group eyes Barstow for clinic

BARSTOW • Barstow area residents involved in family law cases may soon be able to receive free legal counseling closer to home.

The Legal Aid Society has recently received a $10,000 grant that will help fund free legal clinics to benefit those of low income across the High Desert, and may bring a clinic to Barstow for the first time.

“I know a lot of people who will be very happy about this,” said Roberta Shouse, executive director for The Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization that helps fund for the Legal Aid Society. “There are a lot of people from Barstow who come to the clinic in Victorville and they are very excited.”

The Legal Aid Society, which serves San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, currently has High Desert clinics in Victorville, Joshua Tree, and Twentynine Palms. Funds from the grant will help offset costs of traveling to far-flung areas of San Bernardino County.

Shouse said that the Legal Aid Society has funds for a Barstow clinic and is now looking for space to hold the clinic, which would take place once or twice monthly depending on demand.

The Legal Aid Society’s clinics assist those involved in family law matters such as guardianship, child custody cases, and conservatorship.

Shouse said that many children in the Barstow area are not living with their parents, and that having legal guardianship of children is important, especially if the child has to go to the hospital.

“A lot of parents are involved with drugs or incarcerated, and their children may be staying with people they are not related to,” said Shouse. “Sometimes people drop their kids off with someone and say they’ll be back and never return.”

The clinics assist in filling out paperwork and guiding those with family legal needs through the legal system. Shouse said that she has seen people finish divorce cases that they started years prior with the clinic’s help.

“We get letters all the time,” said Shouse.  “People say ‘I don’t know what I would do otherwise.’”

Shouse said that she is meeting with Barstow Mayor Joe Gomez to discuss potential sites for the clinic on Tuesday and hopes to establish a clinic as soon as space is available.


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(760) 256-4126 or adome@desertdispatch.com