Supporting Court-Involved Families in Massachusetts
All too often, Anne Bader-Martin, a Boston-area attorney working in the juvenile court system, witnessed clients’ lives spiral out of control because they lacked a modest amount of money that could avert a crisis. Without bus fare, a mother separated from her children could not visit and maintain a relationship; without enough money to pay a delinquent utility bill, a parent could lose custody of children; without a security deposit, a homeless family could not find stable housing. In each case, a small amount of money could prevent lives from unraveling.
What if court-appointed attorneys and social workers could tap a resource to help underwrite these one-time emergency needs? How many lives would ultimately be saved? That was the problem Anne was determined to solve when she began One Can Help.
Today the organization is poised to grow as it moves from an all-volunteer effort to one with modest administrative support, with our help from a matching grant challenge. For people who find themselves in the juvenile court system, often because of grinding poverty, One Can Help is a lifesaver.