Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1.   A school CANNOT request or require a social security number, a child’s or parent’s visa or immigration status, the reason a child is not living with a parent, or the records of a child welfare or other agency.

2.  For a child living with his or her parent(s), you only need to show four things to enroll the child in a Pennsylvania public school:

• The child’s age
• That the child is immunized
• That the parent is living in the school district
• A signed Parent Registration Statement

3.  A child not living with their parents may be considered in substitute care, living with someone in another district, an emancipated minor, or be homeless. Each of these categories has their own enrollment rights and requirements, but remember all children have the right to attend school in Pennsylvania.

4.  Once these requirements have been met, the child should be enrolled within five (5) business days.

5.  Other forms (the Home Language Survey and a Registration Form with emergency contacts) need to be filled out, but that should not delay the child’s enrollment.

More Information:

ELC has created an internet resource on Enrollment Rights, which includes printable fact sheets (to take to resistant school officials!) and videos, in Spanish and English. Find it here: http://www.elc-pa.org/pubs/pubs_residency.html

Two Pennsylvania departments of Education and Public Welfare have issued joint policies to ensure that children in “Non-educational” residential placements will attend the regular public school where they reside, unless there is legal reason why they should not.  Non-educational placements includes all placements to a residential setting that are not made by the child’s school.

The Issue

When children are placed outside of their home for a variety of reasons, the state is committed to making that placement as effective and healthy as possible.  Many residential facilities have developed on site schools to serve the children living there. Such segregated settings are considered restrictive and limiting. This policy reinforces that children will attend the local school district where they reside, unless there is a court order or it is unwise for the children or improper.  Such a decision can not be substituted for appropriate special education planning and programming.

This policy restates the previous regulatory policies of both departments.  However, to reinforce the seriousness of their commitment, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Department of Public Welfare have committed to avoiding the use of private providers that insist on “bundling” educational and non-educational services. This means they will exclude a provider from the approved provider pool of a specific program, including the Medical Assistance Program.

Requirements for Non-Educational Placements

Host School Responsibilities

1.  The host district is responsible for educating the child, including providing for all special education needs. (The host district is the where the child is residing, not the family.)

2.  The host school district must enroll the child within five (5) days and request records from the prior district within ten (10) days.

3.  The home and host districts must be prepared to work with families and County Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Children and Youth agencies, and Juvenile Probation Offices, as well as the private providers in order to arrive promptly at a sound educational decision. (per PA Act 16)

4.  Special education or services and accommodations must be provided consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and §504 of the Rehabilitation Act and 22 PA Code Chapters 14 and 15.

Residential Facility Responsibilities

1. The child’s educational placement must be considered when making residential placement decisions regarding the child.
2. Services cannot be “bundled”.  That means that a child can not be required to attend an on-site educational program as part of the admission to that facility.
3. The residential facility must notify the host school district (where facility is located) and the resident school district (where family lives) of a child’s change in placement no later than one (1) business day after admission.
4. The residential facility should notify the host and the resident school district at least two (2) weeks prior to the anticipated discharge date for the child.

More Information:

• PA Department of Welfare, Bulletin- Educational Portions of “Non-Educational” Placements
• PA Department of Education, Basic Education Circular (BEC)- Educational Programs for Students in “Non-Educational” Placements
• Required Notification of Admission to Facility or Institution and School Enrollment Form

Protections for People who Advocate for Children

There are many protections for people who experience retaliation when opposing wrong-doings, including whistleblower protections.  But in this situation, I want to discuss the extra protections that are given to people who are advocating for children or adults with disabilities.

People who advocate for children or adults with disabilities are specifically protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA), including when it happens in schools.  The ADA prohibits retaliation/coercion against any individual who has “aided…any other individual…in the exercise of any right granted under the ADA. “

In fact, the teacher who contacted me is not the first teacher to tell me of the problems that occurred when they went against their school to advocate for a student.  It’s important for families to understand the pressure that school staff experience when they go against their administration or school board. There can be subtle pressures, like withholding of needed materials, and assignment to unpleasant tasks. And there can be serious consequences against a teacher’s job, and their standing in the community, even their children in the school.

Individuals who were retaliated against when they advocated for a disabled person’s rights, their own or someone else’s, can file a complaint with the United States Department of Justice.  Please see the information below to learn more about the ADA and retaliation.

More Information:

• ADA definition
• U.S. ADA Information Line, 800- 514-0301(voice), 800-514–0383 (TTY), Spanish language service is also available.
• Official ADA Website
• Retaliation towards parents in the school setting
• The EEOC Retaliation  Manual (Explains the standards used to investigate claims if the complaint is from an employee against an employer.) 

As part of the efforts to right the wrongs of in the Luzerne County Juvenile Justice corruption scandal, the County announced on August 24 that they will fund a new juvenile unite within their Public Defender’s Office.  At a news conference, Chief Public Defender Al Flora announced the unit will have three full-time attorneys, and a caseworker.  The county scandal centered on judges taking money for placing children in a residential facility they had secret ties to. Most of the children should have received community treatment and this injustice occurred in large part because they did not have proper if any representation.  The new unit will serve all children brought before the juvenile court.

Highlights of the new unit include:

• Attorneys will receive extensive training on representing children.
• Parental income will not be considered.
• Children will have the same attorney for the duration of case.
• The unit will comply with nationally recognized standards of no more than 200 cases a year for each attorney.
• Attorneys will continue the new policy already in place that they meet with the child and family before the hearing, and have contact through all juvenile justice processes.  This is a change from the old practice that when a child did have representation, they often met with their attorney for the first time only minutes before the hearing.

Additionally, it was announced that the children will now have a separate waiting room at court.  Previously they shared the same room as all the adults coming in for court that day.

More Information:

• News Coverage of Press Conference

• Juvenile Defenders Association of Pennsylvania- Performance Guidelines for Quality and Effective Juvenile Delinquency Representation

This training teleconference will cover the evolution of mental health services for service members; mental health problems faced by returning service members and their families; and effective strategies for preventing, reducing, and addressing mental health conditions.

For more information and to register for the Mental Health for Military Families: The Path to Resilience and Recovery visit http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/teleconferences/default.aspx.

* United States Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s Resource Center to Address Discrimination & Stigma Associated with Mental Illness.

FFCMH and SAMSHA have created the Nation Initiative for Parent Support Providers to conduct research on family peer advocacy providers and what is needed to support this work. Please visit the Initiative website to review current activities, including analysis of recent research.

The Initiative has convened family advocates and researchers to form the Parent Partner Assessment Workgroup (PPAW).  This workgroup gathered information about the state of family-to-family support and found there is a significant lack of research and standardization of family peer advocacy, which makes it hard to determine:

• Specific benefits of family peer advocacy services;
• Understanding of what family peer advocacy services are;
• The ability to determine if families peer advocates are providing quality, competent services.

Next Steps

Last spring, the Initiative announced the following goals:

• To standardize basic eligibility criteria for Parent Support Partners;
• To identify core competencies of Parent Support Partners;
• To identify criteria for the interventions and services they provide;
• To develop standards and capacity for national professional certification;
• To see the establishment of a national association of Parent Support Providers;
• To continue to contribute to the field’s capacity to evaluate family-to-family peer support services.

Based on these findings, SAMSHA has agreed to fund a new initiative to:

• Convene and facilitate a Parent Support Partner Advisory Committee;
• Develop and disseminate sample training materials and core job descriptions, roles and responsibilities for family peer advocates;
• Develop basic eligibility criteria for family-to-family support providers;
• Draft Parent Support Providers’ standards needed for national certification.

Editors Note:

Pennsylvania currently funds family advocate projects in 30 counties. These advocates receive training and support through a variety of formal and informal networks.  They provide multi-system advocacy to families and contribute to local and state level child policy planning and oversight. Almost all are staffed by family-peer advocates.  Additionally, there are two new family-peer support services being developed as part of demonstration projects in the state. The Hi-Fidelity Wraparound Initiatives have family-peer support and are being piloted in early implementer counties (Allegheny, Beaver, Bucks Chester, Erie, Fayette, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northumberland). The PA System of Care Partnership will also fund family-peer support in 15 counties to be chosen over the next few years as System of Care counties. Both of these new family-peer positions will be funded through Medical Assistance and will have training and oversight.

PBS is a research-based approach to behavioral health support, in which all school staff are trained to respond to children in very specific ways. They learn to reward good behaviors and provide effective supports when children are struggling.  Schools quickly see dramatic drops in poor behavior, and equally dramatic increases in desired behaviors, such as paying attention in class and getting along with peers.

Below is the list of schools districts currently adopting PBS. View a more complete list of schools by building. PBS creates almost immediate change, and takes three years to fully implement.

Pennsylvania Public School Districts Implementing PBS, July 2010

If your school is not on the list, take a closer look at PBS by visiting one of the schools that is, and reviewing the resources provided below. Share this information with your school’s leadership and encourage them to visit as well. PBS schools are usually happy to show off their results.

Resources

• PA Positive Behavioral Support Website
• Pennsylvania’s School-wide Positive Behavioral Support System, an Introduction
• PA Department of Education
• School-Wide Positive Behavior Support: A Plan For Pennsylvania – Education Law Center

The MHAPA affiliate in Northeastern PA, The Advocacy Alliance continues its efforts to offer positive solution based responses to the Luzerne County Scandal. On August 9, as follow-up to a successful education law and rights training offered earlier this spring, they are offering a full day and evening of training focused on school discipline and the behavioral support needs and rights of students.  The information will focus on alternatives to Zero Tolerance policies, which have been found to be ineffective in promoting safe school climates and good student outcomes. More information about this full-day session is available here.

State Response to Commission Recommendations

State agencies and the PA Legislature are currently reviewing the PA Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice Report, and evaluating which recommendations should be implemented, as well as how and when and what the funding needs will be. Officials will have to look carefully at local, state, and federal resources available to help make the changes that the report identified as critical to keeping such a tragedy from happening again.

A Community Shaken

In the May 2010 edition of Independent Magazine (Northeastern PA), Joe Moskovitz and Elizabeth Matin write about “A Community Shaken,” in which they look at the ongoing aftermath of the discovery of the juvenile justice abuses and corruption in Luzerne County.

They interview PA Senator Lisa Baker for her reactions to the recent release of the report from the Interbranch Commission.  Senator Baker, who represents the NE region, including Luzerne County, has publicly led the response to this county’s juvenile justice scandal.  She reflects on how she personally felt about the events. “As a parent you sit there and think, ‘What would I have done, how would I have felt, how would I have reacted?’… the sense of powerlessness and an overwhelming sense of thinking that perhaps the system was there to teach their child a lesson or help them get the right kind of counseling or treatment, as opposed to just being taken away in shackles.”

Her response to NEPA reporter’s question “Where do we go from here?” spoke to the current local distrust of government in the scandal’s aftermath.   “Every new revelation of wrongdoing or misdeed by someone who is elected to uphold the public trust undermines the system. How do you restore that trust? I grew up in the post-Watergate era, post-indictment of Congressman Flood. You have a lot of parallels to that period when there was great distrust in government. Restoring that, like what happened in the juvenile justice system, is going to take time and people stepping forward who are open to look forward, who are open to look for transparency– people who can lead by the right example. People want to see that you are doing what you said; you need to demonstrate that. Only when they can see that will they then believe in people who are engaged and involved for the betterment of their community.”

Federal Investigation Continues to Reveal Corruption Details

While state and local officials and concerned citizens are trying to rectify the harm that has occurred, news agencies in northeastern PA continue to report more layers of corruption and deceit, as the federal investigation moves forward. In May, leading up the trials of officials involved in the scandal, more information about the “kids for cash” dealings were released. The Times Leader reports that the two judges strong-armed juvenile probation officers to place more children in PA Child Care, a facility that was secretly giving the judges money for each child sent there. The government’s information cites a meeting in February 2003 when probation officers were brought to Judge Ciavarella’s office and spoke by phone with Judge Conahan. “Michael Conahan expressed displeasure with delays in admissions of juvenile offenders to PA Child Care. Thereafter weekly reports were often provided to Mark Ciavarella indicating the number of beds utilized at PA Child Care,” a federal document says.

Where: Luzerne County Community College Education Conference Center

Who Should Attend: Parents/Guardians and anyone who works in a child serving system.

These free day and evening workshops will provide an overview of and resources on issues affecting Pennsylvania’s children’s educational services.

Getting a Child into School and Keeping Him/Her There: An Overview of Enrollment Rules, School Discipline Laws, and the Special Ed Process in Pennsylvania

Time:

• 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM School Enrollment Rules & Discipline Laws
• 12:00 PM Lunch Provided
• 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Special Ed Process in Pennsylvania

Presenter: Jenny Lowman, Director of Client Services & Training, Education Law Center. ELC is a non‐profit legal advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all of Pennsylvania’s children have access to a quality public education.

Taking Your Child’s Education Evaluation and Turning It Into a Great IEP

Time: 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Presenter: Tim Lionetti, Ph.D. Dr. Leonetti is a Licensed Psychologist and a Certified School Psychologist with an extensive background in educational assessments, treating learning disabilities, and behavioral disorders.

Special Education: What Parents Absolutely Need to Know in 2010

Time: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM

Presenter: Heather Hulse, J.D., M.S., M.A. Ms. Hulse is a staff attorney with McAndrews Law Firm of Philadelphia and has recently opened an office in Scranton. McAndrews Law Offices have served the needs of clients since 1983 and specialize in special education matters and disability law. Ms. Hulse has provided a wide range of seminars to community and parent groups in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties with regard to special education, estate planning, and special needs planning.

Act 48 credits are available.

Reservations are encouraged by contacting:

Kathy Wallace, Advocacy Alliance
(570) 207‐9199
toll free (877) 315‐6855
kw@theadvocacyalliance.org

Mental Health Issues in Adolescence Training
Thursday, June 17th 2010
Adolescents in the Juvenile Justice System have substantially higher rates of Mental Disorders than those in the general population. It is reported over 75% of these adolescents suffer from disorders either detected or undetected. Anxiety and Mood Disorders are among the most common. Act 48 Hours and/or Training Certificates will be available upon completion of training. More information.

Stress in Adolescence Training
Monday, June 21st 2010
Research studies have been consistent in identifying stress as a significant issue for adolescents. Self reported studies show that many adolescents have witnessed or experienced violence in their homes or communities. Stress In Adolescence is a 20 session curriculum designed for professionals working with adolescents in any setting. Each one hour exercise is designed to be educational in nature and all free standing. Each exercise is hands on and interactive, enabling the participant to feel comfortable and willing to share. This training is a one day experience for staff; at the conclusion participants will be certified as Trainers to continue the experience within their organization! More information.