House Bill 81 - An act relating to the use, prevention and reduction of seclusion and restraint on students with disabilities in public schools

We are ready to start calling House Legislatures and requesting them to be House sponsors to HB 81. We are only calling House Rep's at this time.

Some of you may have done this before but for those of you who have not I am sending you some steps to follow.
1) Click on the link to find you Florida House Representative http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/

2) Go to the bottom left side of the page under "Find you Representative" and type in your Zipe code + 4. Click on "Go." If you don't know what your extra 4 zip code numbers are you can click on "What's my zip+4 and fill out the requested information. You can also find this information on the outside envelope of your phone, electric or insurance bill.

3) When your representative page comes up you will see their District Office contact information on the left side of the page. Make your phone calls to the District Office and request to talk to your House Representative. If they are not available, ask to speak to their Legislative Assistant. Introduce yourself and tell them the reason you are calling is to ask for co-sponsorship for HB81. Refer to the attached talking points before calling. Note: When phoning your legislator or visiting his/her office it is likely you will speak to an aide or staff person. Staff people are integral to the legislative process and can make or break your issue. Staff people are often responsible for researching issues and working bills through the committees. Remember to write down the aide's name and title for future communications. Creating relationships with staff is essential for success.

4) Follow up with an email the same day and attach a copy of HB 81.
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0081__.xml&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0081&Session=2010

5) Follow up with a phone call based on your previous conversation with legislature or staff person.

6) Once you identify who the staff person is that is working our bill you will want to have follow up phone calls and emails as needed with that person.

7) Please let me know as soon as possible if your House Legislature has accepted to co-sponsor HB81.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO KEEP ALL OUR CHILDREN SAFE.

APRAIS Survey on the Use of Restraints, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion

Dear Parent Advocates,APRAIS, The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion, is a coalition of 17 national disability advocacy organizations and Families Against Restraint and Seclusion is a member. We are conducting this survey of parents and guardians to establish the extent to which restraint, seclusion and aversive procedures have been used with students with disabilities and special needs (whether served under IDEA or under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) in public or private schools or in residential facilities. Please pass this on to any families that you think would be interested in filling out our survey Please note: If you have completed any previous questionnaires on this topic or provided other information, the information you reported will not be included as a part of these results. You must complete this survey for your responses to be included.The survey will be available for completion until October 12th, 2009. Approximately five to ten minutes will be required to complete the survey.

Click on this link and you will be ready to start the survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KnCDtCkJDWAiaZRbNJ6BMA_3d_3d

Florida Lawsuit: Footage shows abuse

Florida Lawsuit: Footage shows school abuse
Thursday, 13 Aug 2009 Peter Linton-Smith

LECANTO, Florida - A grainy surveillance tape will likely become 'Exhibit A' in a forthcoming lawsuit against the Citrus County School District. "I don't have the slightest doubt that it's child abuse," said Mark Kamleiter, an attorney representing a 14-year-old autistic boy seen in the video. Kamleiter says the videotape shows a teacher at the Crest School in Lecanto and an aide abusing the child. "They grab him by his arms and drag him on his knees out of the classroom, down the open school hallway and literally throw him into a dark room." The boy's father, Vikas Kamat, reluctantly watched the tape. "It's devastating. I have nightmares from that day 'til now." Kamat became suspicious when his son came home with this ripped clothing. Because of autism his son cannot speak and couldn't explain how his pants were being repeatedly torn.
On January 23, his son wound up in the emergency room with a broken finger and Kamat began demanding answers. "Everybody was telling me, 'Things are going well,' and that teacher could not tell me in the emergency room how the injury happened," he recalled. Kamat's attorney said the injury may have been an accident, but maintains the boy never should have been touched or placed in an isolation room in the first place. "We have laws in this state that make it a special crime to hurt disabled people and the abuse was the dragging and the placing in a seclusion room," Kamat said. A spokesman from the Citrus County School District refused to comment about the forthcoming lawsuit but did point out the teacher in the videotape was fired. According to the Department of Children and Family Services, the isolation room is no longer in use.


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Attention Florida Advocates!!!

The House Committee on Education and Labor is collecting stories about restraint, seclusion, and other forms of abusive interventions in schools. Many of you submitted these stories to COPAA and we provided them to the Committee. The stories are very important because they show the extent of schoolhouse abuse in America and that this is a problem that affects us all....everywhere.

We encourage you to submit your stories to the House Committee on Education and Labor at seclusion-restraint-hearing@mail.house.gov . Please be sure to include your complete contact information, or at least your email address and city, state, and zip code. They will use them as they work in support of legislation to remedy the abuse of children in school. Every child’s dignity and human rights must be protected. We would also ask that you forward a copy to us at COPAA. COPAA continues to need your stories for our grassroots advocacy and advocacy in Congress, including in the Senate. Stories can have a huge impact in this way. Any bill must pass both House and Senate and we need to be able to share your stories in the Senate. (As always, COPAA will NOT share your personal identifying information, such as your name, email, address, etc. without your permission first. You can see our report, http://www.copaa.org/news/unsafe.html to see the kinds of summaries we create. COPAA does have a separate reporting form that you can use, http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspxsm=kbizom_2bCU27wrYCCRv7R7w_3d_3d

If you already reported your story to COPAA or to the GAO, we ask you to also email the House Committee and thank them for their work and bringing attention to this important issue. You may wish to summarize your story again. Please distribute this information broadly and share it with any lists, clients, colleagues, and anyone you wish.

Thank you very much,
Jessica Butler
Government Relations Co-Chair (for Congressional Affairs)
Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc.



Restraint and seclusion should no longer be viewed as treatment options but rather as treatment failures because they risk lives, escalate behaviors and inflict emotional and physical trauma.

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Report from the National Disability Rights Network - School is Not Supposed to Hurt

The National Disability Rights Network Releases Shocking Report on Restraint and Seclusion in U.S. Schools.

Please click on the link below "School is not Supposed to Hurt" to review the report that was released to the press on 01/13/2009.

School is Not Supposed to Hurt: Investigative Report on Abusive Restraint and Seclusion in Schools.

REPORT : School is Not Supposed to Hurt (pdf)

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03/12/2009

Why is the school staff restraining my child? He can't help the way he is and what they are doing to him is only making his behaviors worse. Don't they understand this? They are breaking his spirit! These are the words of so many parents.

PLEASE FORWARD AND DISTRIBUTE THIS EMAIL AS YOU FEEL APPROPRIATE.

Dear Advocates,
Many of you have received either COPAA's emails or emails from other nonprofit organizations, associations, or groups asking you to report restraint, seclusion, or aversives hearings, litigation, and criminal matters to an investigator at the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm. The GAO is working hard on the investigation they must complete for Chairman George Miller of the House Education and Labor Committee. In order to ease the burden on the GAO, we ask that you send COPAA any information about hearings, litigation, criminal or civil cases, state complaints, or other legal proceedings involving restraints, seclusion, or aversives. We will then send the information to GAO twice a week compiled together in a single Excel spreadsheet. Your information WILL go to the GAO, but it will simply be in a more easy to use form, and the GAO officer will not be facing a mailbox crammed with email. This will allow the GAO to concentrate on the substance of its work instead of being inundated with email. If you wish to send your reports directly to the GAO, or your organization has instructed you to do so, we do not mean to interfere with those instructions. But emails are circulating widely on the internet via various yahoo groups giving contact information for the GAO, and you may find it more fruitful to use COPAA's reporting form instead. If you have a choice, we'd suggest using COPAA's form.To complete the reporting form about hearings, civil cases, criminal cases, litigation, state complaints, or other legal proceedings involving the use of restraints, seclusion, or aversives on children with disabilities, click on Legal Report Form
If that does not work, then the full link is
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=w1TBGjlJhZUsC9Nmz2HwnA_3d_3d
Fill out only the information you wish to complete. If, due to client confidentiality concerns, you can only fill in your name, email address, state, and provide a very general description of the events, then do so. On the other hand, if you can provide a fuller description, we would appreciate it.

Please feel free to email us with any questions and we will do our best to get you a response. Again, feel free to forward and distribute this email.

Jessica Butler
Congressional Affairs Co-ChairCouncil of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. (COPAA)
A National Voice for Special Education Rights and Advocacy
www.copaa.org
email: mailto:jessica@copaa.org


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'Pattern of abuse of autistic children in Florida schools'

08/22/2008 Miami, FL

There is a pattern of abuse, neglect and humiliation. That's what more than 100 parents of autistic children in Florida are telling the state attorney general's office and anyone who will listen.The parents and others claim children with autism are being mistreated — in some cases physically harmed — by teachers and staff who are supposed to be helping them. On the Treasure Coast alone, there are two potential lawsuits against the St. Lucie County School District by parents of autistic children."These aren't isolated incidents. This is an epidemic," said one Port St. Lucie parent, Anna Moore, who says her then-7-year-old autistic son was mistreated by staff at his school in 2007. "It's time it stopped."

Click on the link below to read the complete story.

http://www.autismconnect.org/news.asp?section=00010001&itemtype=news&id=6450

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Welcome to FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion

Welcome to FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and SeclusionIf you've clicked on this blog, most likely it's because you or someone you love has experienced the overuse or unnecesary use of restraint and seclusion in public schools. If that's the case, we're glad you've found us, but are sorry you've had need to. We're here to provide guidance and support to those who need it. For everyone else, we wish to inform you that restraint and seclusion are very real and could happen to anyone's children. Every day children with disabilities are restrained or put in seclusion against their will with no parental notification for "noncompliance" and "behavior issues."Children with Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorders are at risk the most.

WINK NEWS.com

younewstv

Restraint and Seclusion on Children with disabilities in the Florida Public School System

Story Created: Nov 12, 2007 at 8:36 PM EST
Story Updated: Nov 13, 2007 at 10:35 AM EST

There are many Florida families who have children with Autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorders that are being restrained and put in seclusion in the public school system. Our children are being abused physical and mentally because of their disabilities and the lack of appropriate programs (public and private) and highly qualified teachers available to educate them. Many parents are so frustrated with the way their children are treated in public schools that they are turning to the school Hospital Homebound programs to keep their children safe yet still be able to receive some education. The average time allowed for Hospital Homebound is approximately 3-5 hours a week which is not even close to a normal school week. Our children are coming home injured physically and mentally and there is nothing parents can do about it. No laws, no regulations, no tracking, no consent from parents and no parent notification in many cases. The current system allows the FLDOE and every school district to be their own police force for the documents they have created and the lack of documents that have not been created.

Please visit our National Blog site Families Against Restraint and Seclusion at:

familiesagainstrestraintandseclusion.blogspot.com/