Michael and Lucille Scott -- Jacksonville, FL
Written By: Adam Sege
To his school, Michael was a problem student, getting to classes late and roaming around when he should have been sitting down. But to his grandmother, Lucille Scott, Michael was a lonely teenager who needed help with his learning disabilities and Bipolar Disorder.
Michael’s doctor recognized that Michael needed an advocate. He referred Michael and Lucille to Legal Aid, where staff attorney Rebecca Feyerick started getting Michael the support he needed.
Lucille, in her own words:
Michael is real smart, intelligent, but you got to give him a chance.
They want to push him to the side, that’s the way it looked to me. They wanted him out.
They’ll push things over on a parent ‘cause we don’t know nothing.
If I hadn’t gotten Legal Aid involved, he would have been completely out of school or in a school for rebellious children.
I do not want him to be a dropout.
I thank God for Legal Aid.
Things are going to be changed for the better for Michael.
If it wasn’t for the program, there would have been a couple times where I would have given up. But with the help of the program I learned a lot. I learned to be my own advocate and to know what I can do and how to go about it.
Edith Evans, Tucson Family Advocacy Program client
