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

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.

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.

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.

Imagine the fear, anger and concern over losing a four year old child who had lived with you since her birth. The family who came to my office were beside themselves with worry when the child’s mother sent her daughter to another part of the country to live with a man who is not her father.

The child’s aunt, uncle and grandmother came to our office. Four weeks ago, the mother took the child from their home and sent her to another part of the country. She now lives with the father of her half siblings.

The case demonstrates how child custody lawyers strategize solutions to problems. First, we began with the facts. The child is four years old. She has lived mostly with her aunt and uncle for most of her life. Her mother has many children, but none of them live with their mother. Some are in foster care.

Next, we had to analyze child custody jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. Too many lawyers and even judges simplify and misunderstand child custody jurisdiction. For example, some mistakenly believe that the court where the child now resides has jurisdiction. Others think that the state where the child lived for the past six months keeps jurisdiction until the child lives somewhere else for six months. The accurate rule differs in ways that, though technical, make the difference in the life of a child.

After establishing jurisdiction, we had to consider various ways for a non-parent to take custody of a child. We considered private child in need of care actions, paternity actions, and grandparents’ visits. We advised our client on the benefits, risks, speed and costs of each option. We even had to consider the reputation and experiences of particular judges to know how a court might rule.

Ultimately, we brought all of our sophistication and experience to bear for the sole purpose of rescuing a small child from a dangerous circumstance.

This is my week to volunteer for CASA of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties, Kansas, where I serve on the board of directors. CASA trains community volunteers to serve as a child’s voice in court.

This morning I trained about eight new volunteers. I have been training CASA volunteers for more than ten years. This group was clearly intent on making a difference in the lives of children in court. On Tuesday evening I will train about another eleven new volunteers on the role of attorneys and guardians ad litem.

On Wednesday I am hosting a table at the annual Promise of Hope luncheon to raise community awareness and support for CASA. Thursday evening we have a regular board meeting followed by a reception for the new volunteers. I also have a speaking engagement Thursday evening with Horizon Academy, a specialized private program to educate children with learning disabilities.

I enthusiastically volunteer my time for CASA because I believe in its mission. If you believe in helping children, I encourage you to volunteer for this worthwhile organization.

You may have read about the US Supreme Court’s decision not to review the appeal of two group of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. The detainees were appealing the authority of Congress in its Military Commissions Act of 2006 to strip them of their right to petition for habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus (Latin for “having the body”) is an arcane legal term for the essential right to petition a court to review your detention. A petition for a writ of habeas corpus requires the governement to justify why it is holding someone in custody.

Without the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpous, the government could imprison you indefinitely for no legal reason. You would never get your day in court.

An incident from my practice illustrates the importance of this essential right. A client called me in a panic. She had been at the community newspaper office complaining about harassment from the County Sherrif. When she came home, her children were gone. A note on a business card from a deputy sherrif said that her children had been taken into foster care.

I asked her for the date and time of her temoporary custody hearing. Under Kansas law, a parent who loses her children to foster care must have a temporary custody hearing within seventy two hours.

She said that she had received no summons. I called the court to ask for the time of her hearing. The court clerk told me no case had been filed.

I called my client again. I told her that her children had been kidnapped illegally by the sherrif. Since the prosecutor had not filed a petition under the Kansas Code for the Care of Children, I filed my own petition for writ of habeas corpus.

The state returned her children to her at the courthouse before our case was heard. Without the right to petition for habeas corpus, the government could have kept her children indefinitely and without judicial review.

We enjoy our rights only if we are willing to extend them to the least deserving. Aribtrary imprisonment without judicial review lies at the core of any totalitarian government. We have no rights at all if we allow our government, rather than courts, decide which of us may petition for habeas corpus.

Two bills in Congress would undo some of the damage done by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. I urge you to write your Senators and Representative to support the Restore the Constitution Act of 2007 and the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007.

April is Chid Abuse Prevention Month. You can prevent child abuse by knowing the signs of the four types of child abuse: Physical, Sexual, Emotional, and Neglect. Here are some of the signs of abuse:

• Injuries in the shape of an object, or in places where injuries would be unexpected;

• Apathy, depression;
• Agressiveness;
• Sudden weight change;
• Clothing unsuited to the weather;
• Sudden changes in school performance or behavior;
• Bed wetting or nightmares.

I just returned from visiting a fifteen year old girl at the juvenile detention center. She committed no crimes. She is detained for running away from a foster placement. I’ll see her again in court this afternoon.

She is easy to like. She is intelligent and personable. She has an interest in nature and ecology. She likes to read and talk about books and music.

She has been in foster care since the age of two months. I met her when she was eleven. Since then, she has lived in well more than fifty– maybe a hundred– different foster homes, temporary shelters, detention centers, mental health facilities and residential treatment centers. Not suprisingly, she suffers from reactive attachment disorder and a host of other diagnoses.

When I visited her at a temporary shelter a few weeks ago, I noticed that she had scars on her arms and wrists from cutting herself. She said that the cutting released her pain. She assured me though that instead of cutting she now writes songs.

She sang this song to me. She wrote it in her diary. She gave me permission to publish it for any other child or family who might benefit.

Please post a comment. I’ll be sure to bring your comment to her. I’m sure she would appreciate your support.

My mama gave me up when
i was 2 months old She
didn’t break my heart she
killed my soul i was beat
and my flesh was weak i
was scared and could not
speak Daddy remember you
Raped me twice now your 30+
and still paying the price
as i grew up depression took
my life i tried to kill myself
with a knife so i asked the
Lord what to do and this is what
he said

Shout shout let it all
out leave all the pain you can
do without so come on im talking
to you so come on

pain is how
i made it through i found myself
missing you every day it was
pain i was going through
so i asked the Lord what to
do and this is what he said

there are many people
with different fates yours
is to walk through heaven’s
gates

A few days ago a young married couple appeared in my law office for their first consultation. Their children had been taken into custody by the Kansas SRS, our state’s child protective agency. The parents had completed all of the tasks assigned to them by the state’s social worker. Nonetheless, the social worker described them as “uncooperative.”

The couple had clearly cooperated with the foster care system. They completed all tasks assigned to them. However, in juvenile cases, the label “uncooperative” often means “unsubmissive.”

The child protective system enforces social hierarchy. Social workers are, by definition, professionals. They must have at least a bachelor’s degree from a university. They must pass licensing examinations and maintain continuing education units.

Everyone else involved in child protection shares their elilte background. The lawyers and judges all graduated from law school and passed bar exams. The therapists completed their college degrees and obtained their professional licensures. Other court officials had to achieve professional or paraprofessional credentials to get their jobs.

In contrast, the families they serve usually come from a different culture. They found fewer opportunities for education and cultural enrichment. They often aren’t college educated or professionally licensed.

Child abuse and neglect happens with equal frequency across all income classes, ethnicity and culture. However, the poor and disadvantaged are disproporiationatly likely to lose their children to foster care.

To get their children back home from foster care, these parents must complete the tasks assigned to them on a case plan or plan of reintegration. The assigned tasks often go beyond the reasons for the child’s removal. For example, if a child is removed because of the parents’ substance abuse, the plan might require more than drug rehabilitation. The plan typically requires steady employment, stable housing, and completion of parenting classes. In effect, the case plan requires the parents to fake for a while the middle class lifestyle that the professionals take for granted.

In short, the plan requires the parents to look and behave like the ideal “Leave It To Beaver” family envisioned by the professionals in the case. Like the professionals’ s own elite experience or imagination, this ideal family looks and acts like white, college educated, upper middle class parents.

I don’t believe child welfare professionals know that they enforce social hierarchy. As they go about their daily business, they think they are helping children. However, all child welfare professionals– including social workers, lawyers, therapists and judges– must acknowledge their deeply held prejudices about their image of ideal parents. A parent does not need to share their elite background to parent adequately.

We encourage parents with children in foster care to “cooperate” (that is, to submitt) to the social worker and other officals in your case. Make your social worker your best friend. Leave the hard advocacy to your lawyer.