x-post:COPAA Survey & GAO request on Restraints and Seclusion in schools.

[Guest guest]

x-post/Please forward to any who may be interested

 

Below is a second round request from the Council of Parent Attorneys &

Advocates, Inc. (COPAA) for information to be sent to the Government

Accountability Office (GAO) for use by the US House Committee on Education and

Labor, which will be having hearings on use of restraints, seclusion and

aversives in schools (See request below).

Since the request does not, I've provided a link to the Committee website, which

has background on the issue, and the purpose of the proposed hearings.

" Chairman Asks GAO to Investigate Cases of Abuse and Neglect of

Schoolchildren "

January 27, 2009 2:21 PM

http://edlabor.house.gov/newsroom/2009/01/chairman-miller-asks-gao-to-in.shtml

 

Report: " School is Not Supposed to Hurt: Investigative Report on Abusive

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools "

National Disability Rights Network

http://www.napas.org/

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.. 

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative arm, is

seeking information about the use of restraints, seclusion, and aversives in day

school programs.  The GAO will be developing a report in preparation for

hearings to be held by House Education Committee Chairman on the

issue.  Day schools are schools that are not residential.  The GAO is interested

in all kinds of cases and situations in which children with disabilities were

subjected to abusive interventions in school.  These can be civil cases,

criminal matters, due process hearings, or situations in which no one filed any

hearing request or went to court at all.

COPAA has developed a form that folks can use to report the information.  We

send the reports to the GAO every week.  This computerized form simply allows us

to collect all of the information together and sort it so that we can do this

quickly.  We would appreciate it if you could complete the form by the end of

the week, although if you need more time, you need more time.  But if we can get

them by the end of the week, that would be great.  We'd like to get an accurate

picture of the extent to which restraints, seclusion, and aversives are used and

getting the stories helps us do that.

We used to have two reporting forms, one for litigation and one for

non-litigated situations.  We have streamlined and combined them into one form. 

To access the form, click here.

If that doesn't work, the full link is:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kbizom_2bCU27wrYCCRv7R7w_3d_3d

If you are an attorney or advocate who has worked with many families, you may

wish to select one child and fill out the form for him/her.  That may be the

easiest thing to do and would enable us to learn a lot about that child's

situation as an illustration.  Alternatively, you could adapt the form by

skipping most of the multiple choice questions and write about your clients in

the narrative section.  If you do the latter, be sure to state the number of

clients you are writing about (e.g. I have represented 5 clients....).

Please share this message with others and to forward to lists, groups,

individuals, etc.  We are trying to make another sweep through for people who

missed the first notice. We would be grateful if you shared this email. 

If you have any questions, please email me at jessica@...

jessica_AT_copaa.org

Thank you,

Co-Chair, Government Relations (Congressional Affairs)

Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates, Inc. (COPAA)

a national voice for special education rights and advocacy

www.copaa.org

email: jessica@...

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