The Next Chapter: The Center for Family Justice

Restraining order. Divorce papers. Custody agreement. Request for child support.

Navigating any one of these would be intimidating and stressful. Doing so without legal expertise or representation seems impossible. However, for many Bridgeport residents, this was their reality before The Center for Family Justice’s Pro Bono Legal Center (PBLC) opened in 2019.

The PBLC, which Impact Fairfield County helped establish with a $100,000 grant in 2019, offers its clients, most of whom have very limited access to financial resources, access to the legal assistance they need at no cost. Prior to implementing this program, the only other option for this group was CT Legal Services. Unfortunately, due to CT Legal Services’ extremely limited capacity, they are typically only able to accept 18% of the cases referred to them.

The Center for Family Justice’s mission is to break the cycle of abuse and violence – domestic, sexual, and child – by providing services that create hope, restore lives, and drive social change through education and community collaboration. The PBLC was a natural and essential extension of Center’s work. Research shows that legal representation in civil court dramatically increases domestic violence victims’ safety and well-being.  

In fiscal year 2021, the PBLC provided a total of 97 clients with 949 hours of legal services valued at $348,000. Impressively, this work was accomplished with only two staff attorneys and no administrative or paralegal support other than interns and volunteers. PBLC’s staff attorneys provide clients with legal advice, coaching, and direct representation in court. They help clients understand the range of options available to them so that they can make educated decisions about their family law matters.  

With the benefit of attorney assistance, PBLC’s clients are increasingly experiencing successful court outcomes. We invite you to meet one woman, Aashita, who’s life has been drastically changed by the attorney assistance she received from the PBLC.

Aashita’s Story 
Story written by staff of The Center for Family Justice

Aashita (name changed to protect client) was a mere 19 years of age when she married her husband, who was then 46 years old. This arranged marriage was common in her home country in Africa. Unfortunately for Aashita, this was the beginning of her nightmare. For 13 years, she experienced horrific abuse at the hands of her husband – physical, emotional, verbal, psychological, threatening and financial. In order to maintain power and control over Aashita, her husband strangled her, threatened to take her children from her, withheld all family funds and prevented her from working. On one occasion, while Aashita was visiting family in Africa, he took their oldest child and got on a plane back to the United States, leaving Aashita abandoned in a hotel room without a cent to her name.  

Over the years, Aashita reached out for help. She came to The Center for Family Justice and spent time in our safe house, had counseling and worked with a family intervention specialist. These services helped keep Aashita and her children safe and provided her with support, but we could not give her what she really needed: the services of an attorney to help her divorce the man who had been abusing her for so many years. Without legal help, she could not obtain her rightful share of the marital assets that would allow her to be free and self-sufficient from her abuser. She could not create a parenting plan that would keep her and her children safe. She simply was not able to navigate the civil justice system alone, especially while her husband hired an attorney. Aashita was trapped.

In June of 2019, Aashita’s husband filed for divorce in an attempt to kick her out of the house and take her children away from her. In a panic, she came back to CFJ. But this time things were different. In 2019, with a grant from Impact Fairfield County, CFJ created the Pro Bono Legal Center. The staff attorney at CFJ was able to assist Aashita throughout the court process.  When the abuser realized that Aashita was ready to take him to trial, he agreed to a settlement that provided Aashita with her share of the marital assets and a parenting plan that protected both Aashita and her kids. During this time, Aashita continued to receive supportive services from CFJ, and was able to find a job at a local coffee shop and was recently promoted to manager.