Concrete Angel Brings Awareness to Child Abuse

This video uses photos, music, posters and poems to bring attention to the reality of child abuse. Warning: Some of the photos show disturbing images of children with injuries.

Do Vaccines Cause Autism In Children?

On Monday the U.S. Court of Federal Claims began hearing the first of nine test cases to determine if vaccines cause autism in children. The test cases could ultimately determine the outcome of 5,000 similar claims.

In the first test case, the parents of a 12 year old contend that their duaghter's vaccines contained a preservative called thimerosal. This preservative, they allege, weakened their daughter's immune system. Consequently, their daughter now suffers from severe autism.

Grandchildren Don't Wear Out Grandparents

New research shows caring for grandchildren generally does not have dramatic and widespread negative impacts on grandparents' health. Instead, some grandparents are already ill before they begin caring for grandchildren and others don't experience a health change.

The study involved over 13,000 grandparents between the ages of 50 and 80. The research contradicts a common belief that the stress associated with caring for grandchildren exceeds the capacity of aging grandparents. However, scholars involved in the current study found that even in cases where grandparents provide primary care for their grandchildren, their health is generally not undermined by the responsibility.

Who Are Juvenile Sex Offenders?

Maybe you saw the Associated Press story yesterday about an alleged increase in the number of juvenile sex offenders. The reporter, Kim Curtis, noted that the number of juvenile sex offenses has increased-- 40 percent over two decades. Moreover, the offenders are getting younger and more violent.

Some attribute the increase to a society saturated with sex and violence. Others attribute the supposed increase to more awareness, better reporting and general hysteria over sex offenders.

I have represented several juvenile sex offenders. Once you meet these kids, you'll understand that the headlines don't show the whole person.

For example, I represented a 14 year old girl who had been terribly, sexually abused since a young age. At age 14, she was at a "party" with about four high school students. One of them, a 15 year old boy, invited her to engage in sex with him. My client looked for guidance from the older girl who had brought her to the party. The older girl smiled, which my client took as approval. So, she went upstairs and had sex with the boy. By the time they came to my office, both the boy and the girl were convicted of statutory rape.

In another case, I represented a boy who served as the lookout for his friend. His friend had persuaded a girl to give him oral sex under the stairs at school. She later claimed she had been coerced, even though she had walked with the perpetrator in front of the school office and past the security personnel. My client was convicted as an accomplice and listed on the sexual offender registry, even though he never engaged in the sexual activity itself.

These are just two examples of the many ways young people find themselves branded for life as sexual offenders. Perhaps somewhere some teens truly engage in predatory, violent sexual acts. However, my clients have been kids who get caught up in a system that wasn't designed for their situation. Eventually, they become a statistic in the alleged growth of sexual offenses.

Disabled Students Deserve Education in the Least Restrictive Environment

Students with disabilities must receive a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Federal law requires schools to educate children with disabilities in the same classes as children who are not disabled "to the maximum extent appropriate."

A child with a disability can be removed from the regular education environment only when the "nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in the regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily."

Courts interpret these requirements in different ways. Some federal courts, including Kansas, use a two part test:

• First, the court determines whether education in a regular classroom, with the use of supplementary aids and services, can be achieved satisfactorily.
  
  
• Second, if the court determines that the education in the regular classroom is not satisfactory, then the court determines if the school district has mainstreamed the child to the maximum extent appropriate.

Other jurisdictions, including Missouri, hold that a disabled student should be separated from her peers only if the services that make segregated placement superior cannot feasibly be provided in a non-segregated setting. For example, a child may be removed from the mainstream setting when:

• the handicapped child would not benefit from mainstreaming;
  
  
• any marginal benefits received from mainstreaming are far outweighed by the benefits gained from services which could not feasibly be provided in the non-segregated setting; or
  
  
• the handicapped child is a disruptive force in the non-segregated setting.