December 19, 2024
Last month, in response to years of glaring failures in Rhode Island’s behavioral health system for children and youth, Disability Rights Rhode Island, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, and Children’s Rights filed a class action lawsuit against the State for denying Medicaid-eligible children and youth their right to appropriate mental health care. Today, in a separate but related matter, the State and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a proposed consent decree specifically focusing on the state’s unnecessary segregation of children with behavioral health disabilities in Bradley Hospital. It was submitted contemporaneously with the DOJ’s filing of a lawsuit alleging that the state’s practices were in violation of federal disability law.
Below is a joint statement from the three organizations about today’s filing:
“Our organizations applaud any effort to address the state’s serious and long-standing failure to protect the rights of children with disabilities from harsh, unnecessary, and counter-productive institutionalization. But the existing problem is far broader than children or youth who are admitted to Bradley Hospital for mental health treatment instead of appropriate community-based settings. There are many, many other RI children and youth placed in other restrictive residential care settings when their mental health conditions could be, and the law requires them to be, adequately treated in less restrictive family-like settings. The current level of dysfunction in segregating youth with mental health needs is exacerbated by the lack of adequate access to intensive in-home services and mobile crisis services that are legally mandated to be available to eligible children and youth under Medicaid. The proposed consent decree offers to address only one small part of this much bigger problem that our lawsuit tackles.
“The proposed consent decree also lacks specific benchmarks for addressing the problem, and saves the adoption of actual implementation plans for a later time. So while this proposal is a step in the right direction, it is critical to emphasize that much more needs to be done. That is why we will vigorously press forward with our lawsuit and seek to ensure that stronger and broader remedies are available for the population covered by this proposed decree and the many other youth not covered by it at all.”
Contact
Zoe Chakoian, ACLU of Rhode Island, zchakoian@riaclu.org
Kristine Sullivan, Disability Rights Rhode Island, ksullivan@drri.org
Camilla Jenkins, Children’s Rights: (917) 971-1784, cjenkins@childrensrights.org
About Disability Rights Rhode Island
Disability Rights Rhode Island is the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy agency for the state of Rhode Island. There are a total of 57 P&As in each of the United States, U.S. territories, and District of Columbia. The first P&A program was created by Congress in the mid-1970s in response to deplorable conditions in institutions for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. In creating the P&A System, Congress gave it unique authorities and responsibilities, including the power to investigate reports of abuse and neglect of persons with disabilities. P&As are also authorized to pursue appropriate legal remedies on behalf of persons with disabilities including enforcement of their civil rights.
About Children’s Rights
Children’s Rights is a national advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of children living in or impacted by America’s child welfare, juvenile legal, immigration, education, and healthcare systems. We use civil rights impact litigation, advocacy, and policy expertise, and public education to hold governments accountable for keeping kids safe and healthy. Our work centers on creating lasting systemic change that will advance the rights of children for generations. For more information, please visit childrensrights.org.
About the ACLU of Rhode Island
The ACLU of Rhode Island is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to vindicating the principles of liberty embodied in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution and state and federal law, including those designed to ensure fundamental procedural fairness and protections for vulnerable populations such as the plaintiffs in this case. In furtherance of this goal, ACLU-RI cooperating attorneys have participated in numerous cases challenging state and local government policies and practices that violate the rights of children.
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In the News
- Case Name
- J.“E.”L. v. Charest
- Status
- Active
Children’s Rights, American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, and Disability Rights Rhode Island filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Medicaid-eligible children against the state of Rhode Island for denying them legally required and medically necessary mental health care. Without access to intensive home and community-based services, these children have been routinely segregated from their communities and placed in institutions—sometimes far from home—where they are unable to thrive, and they remain at serious risk of continued unnecessary isolation and institutionalization.
Child Health, Institutionalization, Government Accountability
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