Contact Us
For more information about this program, contact Dina Shek at (808) 371-2698 or by email.
Medical Legal Partnership for Children in Hawai‘i
OVERVIEW
The Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawai’i (MLPC) is a unique project to provide free legal services and systemic advocacy to improve the social determinants of health that undermine the well-being of Hawai‘i’s children and families. Since April of 2009, our primary collaboration has been with Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV), a community health center. In 2024, we began a new MLPC program site at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children, Hawaii’s only pediatric specialty hospital. We provide “preventive legal care” alongside “preventive health care” to address housing stability, family law, public benefits, employment supports, civil rights, disability access, and other matters by engaging in the following core activities.
Direct Legal Services
MLPC leads free, on-site Legal Advocacy Clinicsat the KKV Pediatrics Clinic and the Kapiolani hospital NICU/PICU Clinic. Services are integrated into the healthcare setting, with attorneys often meeting with families right in their exam rooms. Since 2009, MLPC has handled over 2,500 legal cases for low-income families and reached hundreds more through “Know Your Rights” and “Advocacy Academy” workshops.
Professional Education and Training
MLPC conducts numerous professional trainings each year for health professionals, including grand rounds education; law updates for clinical staff; and interdisciplinary engagement for medical students and medical residents. Throughout the year, we train students of law, medicine, social work, and other graduate programs in the MLP model of collaborative services and public health policy engagement.
Policy & Systemic Advocacy
MLPC engages in systemic advocacy alongside the communities we serve, focusing on advocacy and policy solutions that emerge from the “ground” up. We promote community-driven advocacy and civic engagement to address local and national health and social justice policy issues. This has included working alongside Micronesian communities to advocate for the restoration of Medicaid and other federal benefits; supporting public housing residents facing redevelopment; and partnering with other attorneys and advocates to challenge broken administrative systems.
MLP National Network
The MLP model was developed in 1993 by Dr. Barry Zuckerman at the Boston Medical Clinic when he hired an attorney to “address the social determinants that negatively impact the health of vulnerable populations.” Today, the MLP model has grown to a national network of over 300 healthcare sites in nearly every U.S. state. In 2014, MLPC Hawai‘i was honored to receive an “Outstanding MLP Award” by the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership [medical-legalpartnership.org] at the National Summit in Seattle, Washington. In 2023, MLPC Hawai‘i was selected as one of eight national awardees of the new Medical-Legal Partnership Plus federal grant program from the Office of Community Services under the Administration For Families & Children (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services).
More information about MLPC is available at MLPCHawaii.org.
The MLPC welcomes law students to engage in all aspects of our work through the MLP Clinic course (every Spring), summer fellowships, and year-round pro bono work. All interested parties should send a cover letter and resume to the MLPC-HI Legal Director for consideration.
KEY FACULTY
Legal Director, Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawai‘i
Faculty Specialist
Office phone: (808) 956-5577
Phone: (808) 688-3313
Fax: (808) 956-5569
Legal Services for Families
Since 2009, MLPC has handled over 2,500 legal cases for low-income families and reached hundreds more through “Know Your Rights” and “Advocacy Academy” workshops.