Connecticut Restores Juvenile Status to 16 and 17 Year Olds

The Connecticut state senate voted last week to restore juvenile status to 16 and 17 year old offenders. Currently, teens in this age group are charged in criminal court as adults.

If the Connecticut House passes the law, only New York and North Carolina will automatically charge 16 and 17 year olds as adults. Other states provide mechanisms to waive juveniles to adult status.

Kansas allows children as young as ten to be charged as adults. Teens over thirteen are presumed to be tried as adults for serious offenses. Missouri may prosecute children as young as twelve in adult court for felonies.

The Connecticut bill reflects recent research proving that juvenile brains remain physiologically underdeveloped. During their teen years, children are still developing the capacity to think ahead and make sound judgments. Additionally, they lack the wisdom gained from experience.

Juvenile offenders placed in adult jails are more likely to reoffend, according to data released last month by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Nearly two thirds of juveniles tried as adults are dealing with personal trauma, such as rape, assault, death of a loved one, or suicidal tendencies.

Mental Health for Children and Adolescents

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This video provides instruction about mental health issues in children and adolescents. Although the production quality is not great, it contains some information that might help a child and a family. It addresses:

• Understanding Of Mental Health
  
  
• Causes
  
  
• Families Assisting
  
  
• What To Look For
  

High Quality Child Care Prevents Depression

Impoverished children who experienced high quality child care incurred less depression as young adults than their peers. These findings were reported in the May/June 2007 issue of the journal Child Development by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington at Seattle.

Research shows a connection between childhood poverty and later mental health issues. Providing impoverished children with high quality child care protects them when they become teens and adults.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Rights of Parents of Students with Disabilities

The United States Supreme Court on Monday issued a unanimous ruling upholding the rights of parents of students with disabilities. The case, known as Winkleman v. Parma City School District, held that parents have independent, enforceable rights under special education law. Those rights go beyond procedural and reimbursement related matters to encompass also the entitlement to a free, appropriate education for their child.

The dispute in this case arose when the parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder filed a lawsuit against their school district. Normally, only attorneys can represent other people in court. The school district successfully dismissed the lawsuit because, they said, the parents had no right to represent their child in court.

On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed that decision. The court said that the parents represent real parties in interest in special education cases. Therefore, they may appear in court to represent themselves, even if they would not be authorized to represent their children.

This ruling represents a victory for parents in many ways. The court reiterated many of the rights parents enjoy under special education law. According to the Supreme Court, parents play a "significant role" in the process of determining the special education for their children. Some of their rights include:

• They must be included in the IEP team.
  
  
• The concerns parents have for enhancing the education of their children must be considered by the team.
  
  
• The IEP team must revise the IEP when appropriate to address certain information provided by the parents.
  
  
• The education must be provided at no cost to the parents.
  
  
• The parents must participate in the decision making process regarding the provision of a free appropriate education to their child.
  
  
• They might be reimbursed for their attorney fees if they prevail in a due process hearing against the school.
  

Foster Children Receive Inadequate Health Care

Even though foster children incur a higher risk for mental and physical illness, they are less likely to receive proper care, according to an expert panel speaking at the U.S. Congress yesterday.

The problem arises from inadequate funding for Medicaid. Moreover, children who grow out of foster care at age 18 face young adulthood without medical insurance.

Two federal laws, one enacted and the other still pending, might help. The Chafee Independence Act of 1999 gives states the option of extending medical coverage to foster children who become too old for the system at age 18. The "Medicaid Foster Care Coverage Act of 2007," introduced in the U.S. Senate in March, would make Medicaid coverage of foster care children mandatory through age 21.

Read and Talk With Young Children

Reading and talking every day with young children helps them develop socially, emotionally and intellectually. British Columbia Interior Health offers these suggestions:

• Book time each day to read and talk, and sing songs with your child.

• Talk about what you and your child are doing during everyday activities.

• Talk slowly, clearly, and with both facial and verbal expression.

• With young children, use single words, phrases, or simple sentences.

• Once your child starts to copy you, try saying things like “Look what I found!” – and then pause – to encourage your child to respond and be a conversation partner.

Early detection of communication difficulties is key. Parents and caregivers are often the first to note signs such as:

• your child is not talking at the level you expect for his/her age; or,

• you need to routinely interpret to others what your child has said.

If you suspect that your child has difficulty communicating, contact your nearest school. Your child might be eligible for educational services even before kindergarten.

Senator Obama Tells Fathers To "Act Like Daddies"

Presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama talks about the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. He also discusses the problems that arise when a father is absent.

Father's rights groups suppose he meant to criticize fathers who choose not to support their children. That is certainly a part of his message. However, in this video his words could just as well advocate for courts to allow fathers to fulfill meaningful roles in lives of their children.

Who Gets the Kids?

The father wants to share equal parenting time. The mother wants primary residential custody. She wants their children to live with her but spend every other weekend with their father.

Both parents believe they are being fair, rational, and good to their kids. If they can't reach an agreement among themselves, a court will decide for them.

So who gets the kids? We have argued this scenario from both sides, both for fathers and for mothers. We litigate from the specific facts in each family's situation.

Mothers often can show that they have been the primary care giver for the entire life of the children. This argument can be especially persuasive if the mother has stayed home with the children. Sometimes we put a spin on this argument by showing that the mother is the "detailed" parent or the "structured" parent. While the father's contributions are also important, the children can take advantage of both parents' strengths by living with their mother during the week and with their father every other weekend.

Fathers are appalled by this suggestion. When we represent fathers, we argue that children need a real father, not a visitor. The sundry details of every day life cannot be replaced: feeding, bathing, homework, and getting the children ready for bed. Even if this was not the father's primary responsibility during the marriage, many things will change after the marriage. Moreover, it is unfair to require the father to support the mother through spousal maintenance (alimony) and child support so that she can retain primary custody of the children.

In the end, we hope that parents can work out an arrangement among themselves without resorting to court. A judge has biases and prejudices like any other human. A court would make its decision based on a limited amount of evidence. It is impossible to guess in advance what little detail will trigger a response from the judge. Parents leaving family court often consider the results irrational and unfair.

No one loves your children as the parents do. We hope the parents can keep control over their own children without turning them over to the stranger in the black robe.

Children's Mental Health: The Elephant In the Courtroom

Many of our cases involve mental health issues. However, the cases appears under the guise of child custody disputes, juvenile law and special education.

The real issue remains the failure to diagnose or treat mental illness. Since no one recognizes the mental health issue, though, courts try to resolve these cases under traditional concepts of child custody or juvenile law. Sometimes it seems like mental illness is the elephant in the courtroom that everyone pretends to ignore.

Last Wednesday was National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. To mark the occasion, Katie Couric from CBS news posted this one minute video about ignoring mental health issues in children. She cites that two thirds of children with mental health issues do not get treatment. She uses the perspective of the tragedy of Virgina Tech to show the importance of addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents.

Copycats Threaten Schools

These past three weeks I received numerous calls from parents of kids who have made threats at their schools. The number of cases seems to have increased since the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The threats usually involve fantasies of mass killings or threats against specific individuals. In no case were the threats anything close to actual plans, but they alarm nonetheless.

• In one of my cases, a student wrote a threat on the bathroom wall about a mass shooting. I filed his appeal to the school's manifestation determination to try to prevent him from being expelled from school.
  
  
• In another case the teen posted threatening comments against a teacher on his MySpace. He also brought knives to school. He is charged in juvenile court with criminal threat and possession of illegal weapons.
  
  
• At a teen meeting last week, some of the students told me their school had been placed on lock down after a student threatened his ex girlfriend and brought a gun to school.
  

My Kansas juvenile practice is not just anecdotal. Kids are emptying schools around the country by making alarming threats. Incidents have been reported in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Colorado, to name a few.

A juvenile in upstate New York was sentenced to 18 months in juvenile prison for making threats to a high school security guard. In California, students skipped school by the hundreds after a student posted a threat on MySpace.

Special Education Basketball Manager Scores Big!

Check out this inspiring video of an autistic special education high school student. He served as manager of his school's varsity basketball team. In the final four minutes of the last game of his senior year, his coach allowed him to suit up and play.

His classmates brought pictures and posters to support him. His first shot missed by several feet. His second shot missed also. Thereafter, he scored six three point shots-- a school record! His classmates carried him off the court as their new school hero.

Child Abuse Costs Money

Child abuse inflicts an incalculable human cost on its victims and their families. It also costs money.

Child abuse costs the nation $94 billion annually according to a 2001 study by Prevent Child Abuse America.

The good news is that prevention not only saves lives, it even saves money.

A RAND Corp. study found that for every $1 spent on working early with poor families in parenting classes, getting them help with health care and providing other social supports, about $4 will be saved in foster care, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse treatment and mental health costs.

Collaborative Divorce Saves Children

Divorce affects more children more profoundly than any other legal proceeding. For many families, divorce prompts their first and only contact with lawyers and with courts. Too often, the court process itself exacerbates rather than heals the family's hurt and division.

Consequently, many families choose to divorce without going to court. Instead, they choose a new process known as "collaborative divorce." In collaborative divorce, the parents agree in advance to resolve their disputes without resorting to court.

As with any divorce, each parent hires his or her own attorney. The attorneys advocate for their respective clients. However, instead of going to court the advocacy takes place in four way meetings involving both parents and their counsel. Parents might also include other professionals, such as divorce coaches, a financial specialist and a child specialist.

Children benefit the most from this process. Collaborative divorce allows parents to reach their goals without the bitterness of a battle in court. Consequently, parents leave the process better able to cooperate for the benefit of their children.

Divorce is rarely pleasant. However, for many families, collaborative divorce provides a way to achieve divorce while keeping control within the family and minimizing strife. In this way, the parents prepare their family for successful post-divorce co-parenting.

For more information on collaborative divorce, check the web sites for the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, the Collaborative Law Institute of Kansas, and the Collaborative Law Institute of Missouri. You can also write me at Scott@yourchild1st.com .

Pregnancy Center Supports Mothers and Children

Last night I served as the guest speaker at Advice and Aid Pregnancy Center in Johnson County, Kansas. Advice and Aid provides practical, nonjudgmental support for young women facing an unplanned pregnancy.

For more than ten years I have assisted clients in their "Bridges" program, which serves single mothers of infants and young children. These brave women face a host of legal problems involving themselves and their children. Issues range over custody, paternity, child support, step parent adoption, and restraining orders relating to domestic violence.

Advice and Aid operate centers in Shawnee and Olathe, Kansas. They answer a 24 hour crisis hot line at (913) 962-2112.

Parents Tell Schools, "Don't Touch My Child."

Twice this week parents met with me about inappropriate discipline of their children at school. The schools were using physical restraint and confinement. Because of previous life experiences, the children already suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and other serious emotional disturbances.

When the children physically resisted being manhandled and confined the schools called police. The parents were concerned about losing their children in juvenile court. One of the children, who had been adopted from Eastern Europe, panicked, fought or ran whenever police appeared.

Interestingly, the children were not problematic outside the school setting. They still exhibited the same behaviors that caused concern for the school. However, their parents and other caring adults had learned how to redirect their behavior without physical restraint.

Both parents used the techniques recommended by Ross W. Greene in his books Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem-Solving Approach and The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children. They were frustrated that the schools refused to consider those approaches as an alternative to physical restraint.

We are helping these children by demanding that the schools perform a Functional Behavioral Assessment. If the school's Functional Behavioral Assessment is inadequate, we might demand an Independent Educational Evaluation at public expense. Based on these assessments and evaluations, we will devise a Behavioral Intervention Plan that will become a part of the Individual Education Plan for these children.

The parents of these children were wise to deal with the issue proactively. By using the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act we can prevent inappropriate physical abuse and court involvement.

Missouri Senate Considers Bill To Educate Children In Foster Care

The Missouri 94th General Assembly passed House Bill No. 827 , an act relating to the educational needs of children in residential care facilities. The bill now goes to the Missouri Senate.

The act remedies some of the educational problems faced by that children in residential care facilities. These children are often transient, changing residential placements and schools every few months or even weeks. They sometimes face stigma and discrimination.

The problems surfaced in a particular way at a youth residential care facility south of Kansas City. Their school district attempted to deny an education to the children residing at the facility. The district wanted to force the children into "home bound" education at the facility for only a few hours a week.

I had the privilege of being called by the management of the facility to advocate for the children. For my effort, I was honored as a 2006 Outstanding Family Advocate by Cornerstones of Care, a partnership of agencies that provides therapeutic treatment services for children and their families.

We realized that while advocacy for the individual children was important, we needed to find systemic solutions. We therefore joined with other service providers through the Missouri Council of Children's Agencies to propose the pending legislation.

If the bill becomes law, children in residential care facilities will receive a full day of school. If they cannot be educated in the regular school, the bill provides for educating them at the residential facility.