Nurturing hope, preventing trauma
Our goal at the FIRST Legal Clinic is to keep families safely together.
Family Intervention Response to Stop Trauma (FIRST)
The FIRST Legal Clinic provides early legal advocacy and parent ally support so mothers and newborns at risk of separation can stay healthy and safely together. Our goal is to break the cycles of trauma and create lasting stability for families.
Legal Help
24/7 access to legal consultation and advocacy
Our attorneys provide confidential, judgment-free guidance to help parents understand their rights and make informed decisions from the very start.
Peer Support
Guidance from parent allies with lived experience
Every parent works alongside a peer ally who’s walked a similar path—offering understanding, encouragement, and practical support when it matters most.
Coordinated Care
Collaboration with healthcare and community partners
We work with medical providers and local organizations to connect families with treatment, housing, and other essential resources that support long-term stability.
We believe in you until you believe in yourself. We want to hold you up until you find your legs.
- Jennifer Justice, Former Client and Current Parent Ally at the FIRST Legal Clinic
Who we are
We are a team of advocates dedicated to helping keep families safely together.
The FIRST Legal Clinic is a non-profit medical-legal partnership in Washington State that provides free, pre-dependency legal advocacy and wraparound support to pregnant people and parents of newborns at risk of child welfare intervention.
Through early, evidence-based intervention, we help parents and babies stay together and build a safe, healthy start.
APEX Award Winner
FIRST Legal Clinic received the Washington State Bar Association’s 2023 Pro Bono and Public Service Award (Group) for their proactive, community-driven work preventing unnecessary CPS involvement and helping more than 400 families avoid the trauma of child removal.
Watch their inspiring story:
We're changing outcomes
The FIRST Clinic is recognized locally, nationally, and internationally for the positive impact it has on families.
79%
of families avoided infant removal
82%
of cases avoided court filings
100%
of families felt they were connected to helpful resources.
These numbers are based on our 2024 Impact Report.
The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is human connection. We can’t do this without love. Love is at the heart of what we do. Without that, we wouldn’t be effective.
- Adam Ballout, President and Community Outreach, FIRST Legal Clinic
