APRAIS to Brief Congress on Aversive Interventions, Seclusio

[Deborah]

July 1, 2004

IS YOUR CHILD A VICTIM OF RESTRAINTS, AVERSIVES, OR SECLUSION?

an opportunity for action!

Please help your child and others by exhibiting his/her story & photo in Washington, D.C. this July 15th.

what needs to be done?

The newly-formed Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion (APRAIS) is holding a national Press Conference on July 15 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The purpose of this event is to brief Congress and the press concerning these ongoing threats to our children's
health and safety, to present a White Paper outlining the necessary systemic reforms, to begin distribution of ! a Parents' Guide to keeping children safe from these outdated practices, and to introduce a new informational website.

As part of the Press Conference, APRAIS will exhibit a photo gallery of children who have been injured, traumatized, or killed through the use of
restraint, aversives, or seclusion in their education or treatment program.

It is very important that Congress and the press see the faces of these young victims and understand their stories. If you have a photo and a story to share, please fill out the questionnaire below and send both photo and
story to aprais@tash.org

Your photo and story will not be used for any purpose other than the Press Conference photo gallery. A photo that shows what happened to your child, or that documents an injury etc., is especially! effective; however, if such
documentation is not available any photo of your child (accompanied by his or her story) will be appreciated.

who is aprais?

The APRAIS Steering Committee is composed of TASH, the National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems, the Arc of the United States, the Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, the National Down Syndrome Society, the Autism National Committee, and the RespectABILITY Law Center. APRAIS has adopted
the following Vision: "All children should grow up free from the use of restraint, seclusion, and aversive practices to respond to or control their
behavior, and from the fear that these practices will be used on themselves, their siblings or their friends."

Dee Alpert, Publisher
The Special Education Muckraker
http://www.specialeducationmuckraker.com

[Deborah]

APRIL 16, 2004 ? PRESS RELEASE

Members of the nation?s leading education, research and advocacy  organizations announce the creation of a powerful new initiative to protect children from abuse in their schools, treatment programs, and residential facilities.  Members of The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion are responding passionately to the increasing toll of deaths, injuries, and trauma resulting from the use of inhumane practices in programs serving children and youth with disabilities.  

?We have been patient for too long,? said Kathleen Gee, President of TASH, an international membership organization advocating for inclusion through best practice based on research.  ?Every day in this country, vulnerable children with disabilities are being brought down to the ground and straddled by program staff, slapped and pinched, deprived of food, secluded in locked closets and more.  Amazingly, these abuses are often considered part of children?s education and treatment plans, and are carried out by the very adults entrusted with their care, protection and development.  If parents used restraints and aversive procedures in their homes as some schools and service providers routinely do, they would face criminal charges and lose custody of their children.?

Members are particularly concerned about the persistence of aversive interventions, restraints and seclusion in children?s programs and are dismayed by the convoluted and often contradictory tangle of state and federal regulations that address these dangerous activities.  ?There is no equal protection for our children with disabilities, and parents become very confused about what their rights are,? says Janice Roach, parent of a young man who died after 16 months of restraint and denial of appropriate education and treatment.  ?It makes a big difference which state you live in and which funding stream serves your child.  In my child?s case he started school in a state in which restraint was prohibited, was then sent to a neighboring state in which restraint was allowed, and subsequently died. Parents assume that the same rules requiring humane treatment apply everywhere, but they don?t.?

The new alliance is responding to this concern by working together to identify the laws, regulations, and loopholes that permit the use of aversive interventions, nonemergency restraints and seclusion. In addition, alliance members are preparing information that will assist families to know their rights and how to protect their children.  A database of individual stories will be gathered and shared, and informational events of national significance are planned.  Trina Osher of the Federation of Families for Children?s Mental Health states, ?We believe the nation has reached a tipping point on this issue. There are many wonderful programs around the country-serving children with the most complex disabilities and behavioral challenges in non-punitive, non-coercive settings.  Research and experience have clearly demonstrated positive approaches work.    It is time to assure that that no child grows grow up afraid and abused by the very people and programs that are supposed to provide education and treatment.?

http://www.thefamilyalliance.net/APRAIS ... elease.htm