FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

My Son was Restrained and Put in Seclusion, Yours Could be Next....

Dear Parents and Advocates,

Please ask your Florida Senator and Florida House Representative to Co-sponsor restraint and seclusion bills - Senate Bill S144 and House Bill H1467.

Click on the link below to contact your Florida Senator and Florida House Representative. It's quick and simple!

http://www.change.org/petitions/my-son-was-restrained-and-put-in-seclusion-yours-could-be-next

S144 and HB1467 will set long-overdue standards to protect children in Florida schools from physical and psychological harm and ensure a safe learning environment for teachers and students alike.

Some of the very important highlights of the bills are the following:

Prohibit the very dangerous prone restraint

Prohibit supine restraint

Prohibit mechanical restraint

Prohibit seclusion

Welcome to FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion

Welcome to FLORIDA Families Against Restraint and Seclusion. If 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.

If you have any questions, please contact us at familiesagainstrestraint@yahoo.com

HELP STOP RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION IN OUR FLORIDA SCHOOLS!

Please Sign the petition below to BAN deadly prone restraints sign the Petition to ban the use of deadly face-down prone restraints. This form of restraint has killed children in public schools and residential treatment settings. There are safe, alternative approaches.

Sincerely,Isabelle ZehnderFounder and PresidentCoalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA) http://caica.org/index.

Comments or Questions?

If you have any comments or questions, please send us an email at familiesagainstrestraint@yahoo.com

Please also include your county so we can best address your concerns.

Thank You!

REPORT SCHOOL ABUSE

The Welfare of Children Act (HB 7173) amended the definition of "other person responsible for the child's welfare" to include school personnel, thus making it mandatory to report suspected abuse by school personnel.

Florida Child Abuse Hot Line 1-800-962-2873

New ABA/Family center opens in Northeast Broward Florida. Please visit our website at http://www.revlearning.org/

Some of our services include ABA/VB therapy, Social Skills classes, no cost parent Education/Advocacy training.

For more information please visit our website at http://www.revlearning.org/

We believe that evidence based positive behavior interventions, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) when used properly, help to prevent the mis-use and over use of restraint and seclusion on children with autism and autism spectrum disorders.

Links to Other Sites

Parent to Parents http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Parent_to_Parents/

Families Against restraint and Seclusion http://familiesagainstrestraintandseclusion.blogspot.com/

APRAIS

http://aprais.tash.org/index.htm

TASH http://www.tash.org/index.html

National Disability Rights Network http://www.ndrn.org/index.htm

Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates http://www.copaa.net/