Legal aid brings hope to impoverished rural family

Since 2014, He Jinfang has been working as a dedicated lawyer at the legal aid center of Funing county in East China's Jiangsu province, helping people in financial difficulties face-to-face through a small window.

During her career, He not only never charged legal aid applicants commissions but donated to those in extreme difficulties. "I never thought about profiting from legal aid," said He.

Responding to some people's concern that her heart might have gotten hardened because of having seen so many misfortunes, He said quite the opposite: it is because of these misfortunes that she found it right and meaningful to uphold justice with the power of law for disadvantaged groups.

One day in April last year, a 76-year-old man came to He for help at the legal aid center.

The man told her that since his only son passed away 11 years ago, he and his wife have been taking care of their grandson and mentally-ill daughter-in-law who left home shortly afterwards and never returned.

Bringing the boy up was quite an arduous task for the old couple who are both peasants and can barely make ends meet with their basic living allowances in addition to occasionally selling some home-grown vegetables.

What adds to their difficulties is that they began to lose their ability to work as a result of a perceived decline in their health in recent years. The situation prompted the old man to worry about their grandson's future. "We will soon be unable to afford raising him," said the old man who almost burst into tears.

After learning the old man's story, He told him that his grandson could be eligible for government aid as long as he could obtain legal status as a child in difficulty. The information greatly relieved him and brought hope to the family.

After being designated by the center to handle the case, He developed a customized legal aid plan for the family and promptly started the necessary process. 

To verify the family's financial woe, she visited them in a village under Funing, finding that it was even poorer than she imagined.

After confirming that the boy's mother had been missing for more than two years, He immediately applied to the local court, asking it to declare the disappearance of the woman. The court ruled in favor of her claim in February.

Based on the last two steps, the boy finally obtained the legal status as a de-facto orphan, qualifying the family to apply to the local government for material support for the boy's daily life as well as subsequent medical support and an education fund.

Nowadays, as with He, numerous lawyers across the province are reaching out to poor families in rural areas, making great efforts to relieve their poverty with legal aid services.