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Newsroom
See Bazelon Center in the News
House Committee Approves Legislation to Prevent Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (2/4/10)
Bazelon Center Remembers Mental Health Consumer Rights Pioneer (1/19/10)
National Civil Rights Housing Expert Returns to Bazelon (12/17/09)
Health Leaders Urge Congress to Support Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act (12/11/09)
Mount Bachelor Academy Closed Due to Abuse and Neglect of Children with Mental Health Needs (12/3/09)
Motion Filed to Enforce Settlement Agreement on Mental Health Services for
Low-Income Children in Arizona (11/13/09)
The Bazelon Center Congratulates U.S. House
on Passing the Affordable Health Care for America Act (11/9/09)
New Publication Maps Approach to Successful Re-Entry for Jail/Prison Inmates with Mental Illnesses (10/30/09)
Disability Groups Win Landmark Case Affirming Rights of People
with Mental Disabilities in State-Funded Adult Homes (9/8/09)
The Bazelon Center on the Passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, Mental Disability Champion (8/26/09)
Eunice Shriver’s Legacy is a Changed World for Millions (8/10/09)
Judge Sotomayor's Confirmation to Supreme Court is Historic Moment for People with Disabilities (8/6/09)
Hundreds of New Jersey Residents Released with Community Services
After Years of Unnecessary Segregation in Psychiatric Institutions (7/29/09)
Disability Groups Urge Confrmation of Sotomayor Based on Extensive Disability Rights Record (7/7/09)
New Bazelon Center Report and Call to Action: Cost-effective Olmstead principles are necessary for
healthcare reform, vindication of civil rights (6/24/09)
The Bazelon Center Welcomes President Obama's Pledge to
People with Mental Disabilities on Olmstead's 10th Anniversary (6/22/09)
New Study Shows Alarming Rates of Serious Mental Illnesses
Among Inmates, Particularly Women, in Jail (6/1/09)
Sotomayor Nomination is Good News, Say Advocates for People with Mental Disabilities (5/26/09)
Positive Support, Not Restraint and Seclusion in Schools
Educational Systems Must Not Fail Our Children, Say Advocates(5/19/09)
Goldie Hawn Champions Children’s Mental Health (5/7/09)
PBS Documentary Exposes Problems Facing Inmates with Mental Illnesses upon Release, But Fails to Highlight Proven Solutions (5/6/09)
Supreme Court Review of Tuition in Forest Grove Case Highlights Inappropriateness of Residential Treatment for Children (4/9/09)
Patient and Hospital Settle ADA Challenge to Mandatory Clothing-Removal Policy (3/10/09)
Georgia Stakeholders Ask Court to Withhold Approval of Settlement with Justice Department (3/2/09)
Federal Court Upholds Rights of People with Mental Illnesses in NY Adult Homes (2/19/09)
Issue briefs offer policy recommendations for integration of mental health in healthcare reform (11/20/08)
New Booklet Explains Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities (10/7/08)
Mental Health Advocates Rejoice as
Health Insurance Discrimination Ends (10/3/08)
Bazelon Center and Leadership 21 Release Student Guide (9/23/08)
Guide offers information about mental health resources for college and university students and explains their rights when seeking treatment.
Federal Court Approves Settlement Creating New Housing and Community Services in San Francisco (9/18/08)
President Signs ADA Amendments Act (9/25/08)
Bazelon Center has high praise for bipartisan passage of bill reviving ADA protections
Ruling in Katie A. Class Action Moves California Closer to Providing Mental Health Services Needed by Foster Children (9/22/08)
Medicare Mental Health Parity Approved (7/10/08) Congress Overrides Veto (7/15/08)
Bazelon Center Celebrates House Action on Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments (6/25/08)
Healthy Transitions Act Would Ease Path to Adulthood for Youth with Mental Illnesses (6/25/08)
New Publication Promotes Self-Directed Mental Health Care (5/20/08)
Advance
Healthcare Planning Important Also for Mental Health Care (4/16/08)
Major Changes Ahead
in State Medicaid Policy
Report explains state choices under federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (3/20/08)
Proposed
Rules Issued for State Flexibility in Medicaid Plans (3/13/08)
Mental
Health Advocates Hail House Parity Vote (3/5/08)
Disability
Groups Oppose Nomination of Judge Gene E.K. Pratter to the Third Circuit (1/24/08)
Court
Asked to Order Effective Community Mental Health Services for California
Foster Children
January 11, 2008--The Bazelon Center and California advocates renewed their request
in the case known as Katie A. that the federal court order the State
of California to provide effective community mental health services to all children
with mental health needs who are in or at risk of entering foster care. Read
more...
Jailing of Runaway Foster Youth Without Attention to Mental Health Needs Overruled
On Dec. 20, 2007, Washington State’s highest court reversed a lower court’s
imposition of extended detention of children who had run away from their
foster care placements. The court issued a fragmented decision with multiple
opinions,
drawing heavily on an amicus brief filed by the Bazelon Center and other
mental health advocates. The outcome, however, is that a juvenile court cannot
use
its contempt authority to incarcerate foster care runaways unless it has
first explored statutory alternatives and also has ensured that needed mental
health
and substance abuse services have been provided. Read
about the case...
New
Agreement Mandates Sweeping Changes in D.C. Special Education
December 13, 2007—District of Columbia officials announced
that the city will make sweeping changes in its special education program to
comply with a new consent decree in a 10-year-old class action, Blackman & Jones
v. District of Columbia. When approved by the court, the decree will require
the school system to address the needs of hundreds of students with mental
or physical disabilities who await services. Read more...
Lawsuit
Yields Agreement to Create New Housing and Community Services for Seniors
and People with Disabilities
Mark Chambers’ dream “to be part of the world outside” the
nursing home he’s lived in for eight years will soon come true. Over
the next five years, Chambers and several hundred other residents of the
Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco will move to independent apartments
linked
to the supportive services they need, according to a settlement announced
on November 27, 2007. Read more...
Appeals Court Favors Individual Determination of Voting Rights
for Disenfranchised Citizens with Mental Disabilities
August 23, 2007—The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today
held that Missouri law allows citizens who are under full guardianship to
retain their voting rights if they demonstrate a capacity to vote. Read more...
Lawsuit
Seeks to End Abuse of Girls in Mississippi Reform School
July
11, 2007—Troubled teenage girls in a state-run reform school
in Mississippi have suffered “horrendous” physical and
sexual abuse, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court today.
The complaint asks
the court to require the state to provide federally required mental health
and rehabilitative treatment to girls confined in the Columbia Training
School. Read more....
Bazelon
Center Offers Educational Institutions a Model Policy for Addressing
Student Mental Health Issues
Washington DC, May 16, 2007--The Bazelon Center for Mental Health
Law today released a model policy to help colleges and universities
develop a non-discriminatory, non-punitive approach to students
in crisis because of mental health problems. The document offers
a response to serious mental health problems among college and
university students and schools' lack of consensus on what to do
when such students are in crisis. Read
more...
Statement
by the Bazelon Center on Student Mental Health Issues
Washington
DC, April 24, 2007 —The Bazelon Center wishes
to express its deepest sympathies to the families, friends and
peers of the Virginia Tech shooting victims. In the wake of this
tragedy, many students may suffer emotional distress. It is critically
important that counseling and other mental health services be available
to them and that they feel safe asking for help. Seeking help is
often difficult. Read
more...
Mayor
Joins DCPS in Struggle to Meet Special Education Requirements
April
12, 2007-- This week lawyers from Mayor
Adrian Fenty’s office joined DCPS lawyers at the second status
hearing in months concerning Blackman and Jones v District
of Columbia. Lawyers
for the Defendants told US District Judge Paul Friedman about a “collaboration
at the highest levels of DC government”in an effort to meet
compliance targets set by the court-approved Consent Decree of
July 2006. Read
more...
Court Affirms
States' Obligation to Provide Effective Mental Health
Services to Foster Children
April 3, 2007--There is good news for children in California’s
foster care system. On March 23, 2007, in Katie A. v. Bonta,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the state’s
obligation to provide effective mental health services to foster
children. The appellate court acknowledged compelling evidence
that wraparound services and therapeutic foster care (TFC) are
medically necessary for many children and that, without them, these
children would face grave harm from unnecessary institutionalization. Read more....
Kennedy Tells Advocates No More Deals With Insurance Companies
March 8, 2007
-- Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) told policymakers and mental
health advocates today that letting insurance companies define mental
illness when setting limits on coverage is “bogus.” Kennedy
and other policymakers addressed nearly 100 members of the mental
health community during the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law’s “Working
Breakfast” at the Columbus Club in Washington, DC.
Expert Panel Decries DCPS Failures
February 13, 2007 – The expert evaluation team appointed by the court to report on the District of Columbia Public Schools’ progress on federal special education requirements has produced its first report early, due to the “gravity” of their findings. Read more…
Court Asked to Release Controversial Eli Lilly Documents on Psychiatric Drug
February 7, 2007 —Mental health professionals, researchers and consumer groups told a federal court today that it should release evidence that the Eli Lilly company’s largest-selling drug, Zyprexa, prescribed for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has a significant risk of severe side effects. Read more...
Unjust Denial of Parental Rights Overturned
January 10, 2007—A Missouri appeals court has ruled that general conclusions about a mother’s mental disorder, based on stereotypes about her ability to care for a child, cannot support termination of her parental rights. The Bazelon Center’s amicus brief offered support for what is an altogether too rare decision. Read more…
Bazelon Center Statement on Judge Boyle's Withdrawal
January 9, 2007—We are very pleased that Judge Terrence Boyle has withdrawn his quest for confirmation to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Like many others in the disability community, we had grave concerns about Judge Boyle’s many rulings that show a lack of concern for the rights of people with disabilities. Read more...
For older news from the Bazelon Center, go to the
news archive.
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