A day at the Bronx walk-in clinic
Reaching women in their own communities

Each month women come to inMotion’s Bronx walk-in clinic—many accompanied by their children—hoping to find a way to end abusive marriages, secure desperately needed child support, obtain orders of protection or simply learn about their legal rights.

Our walk-in clinic, usually held on the second Saturday of the month, is open to low-income women living in the Bronx who have questions about child custody and visitation, child and spousal support, domestic violence, divorce or immigration issues.

Women can drop by between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm to gain information and seek advice from members of our legal staff and clinic volunteers. Learn more.

Here are the stories of just a few of the women who walked through our doors at a recent clinic. Names and identifying details have been changed to protect their identities.

Alejandra—Contested divorce
Alejandra, a mother of seven children and an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who spoke little English, came to the clinic with many questions about the divorce papers she had recently received. During her intake interview with a bilingual volunteer, Alejandra explained that after suffering years of physical and psychological abuse by her husband, she had gone to court pro se (on her own) to petition for legal custody of their children and an order of protection. In retaliation, her husband had served her with divorce papers.

While the volunteer made copies of all the legal documents Alejandra brought with her, an inMotion attorney met with Alejandra to advise her about responding to the divorce papers in time to avoid a default judgment. They set up an appointment the following Monday for Alejandra to return to inMotion’s office for assistance in preparing a pro se answer. In addition, inMotion informed Alejandra that we would attempt to find a volunteer attorney to represent her, but also gave her contact information for other agencies that might be able to provide her with representation.

Yasmine—Order of protection and child custody
Yasmine, a 19-year-old mother of twin toddlers, explained to the intake volunteer that she lived in great fear for her and her children’s safety, ever since the father of her children started stalking and threatening them. She came to the clinic to find out how to get an order of protection against the children’s father and legal custody of the twins. InMotion gave Yasmine referrals to several agencies that could assist her immediately with safety planning and supportive counseling.

Within several days of meeting Yasmine at the clinic, we referred her order of protection and custody cases to a solo practitioner volunteer attorney.

Serita—Child support and custody
Serita knocked on the door just as the clinic was about to close for the day. Serita is physically disabled and does not speak English. She had just been served with custody papers by the father of her seven-year-old daughter and did not know where else to turn. Serita talked with a bilingual staff attorney of inMotion. She explained that the child’s father rarely saw their daughter and had not paid any child support since the child’s birth. In the custody papers, the father was alleging that Serita could not take care of their daughter because of her physical disabilities. Our attorney and Serita discussed in detail the living arrangements Serita had put in place for herself and her daughter, as well as her child’s terrific progress in school.

The following week, inMotion found a Spanish-speaking pro bono attorney interested in representing Serita in obtaining both custody and child support orders against the father.

Clinic volunteers needed
As a clinic volunteer, you can provide invaluable assistance to our clients—helping with everything from intake interviews to making copies of our clients’ legal papers to serving as an interpreter or translator for women who do not speak English.

We have a tremendous need for bilingual volunteers. If you speak Spanish or another foreign language, we hope you will consider volunteering.

Learn more about volunteering at of our walk-in clinics.