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...
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...
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...
