Liberty and the pursuit of happiness aren’t the only rights you have in this country. You’re also entitled to an attorney. But that’s something disabled children didn’t have in the state of Florida.
Fortunately, that’s now changing.
According to HB 561, signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott on June 25, it is mandatory that dependent children with special needs receive an attorney in court. The $4.5 million allocated by the Florida legislature will go towards paying any lawyer who agrees to represent these clients, making legal services available for these children. (Attorneys, though, can provide their services pro bono if they choose.)
Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) will use certain criteria to determine eligibility. In order to be considered, the child must fall into one of the following categories: reside in a nursing home, have a developmental disability, be a human trafficking victim, or be an unwanted recipient of prescribed psychiatric drugs.
This new law is desperately needed considering Florida’s track record with children with special needs. An investigation conducted by the Miami Herald revealed that since 2008, the DCF knew of 500 children that had died of abuse or neglect. Of those victims, 85 percent were disabled. And the news gets even worse from there. Disabled children in the state are 17 times more likely to die from abuse or neglect than those without limitations.
One such death was Tamiyah Audain, an autistic girl who was diagnosed with tuberous sclerosis. After her mother passed away, the child went to live with her cousin. In 2013, she was found dead in the relative’s apartment — her death due to neglect and abuse.
Since cases such as these are so common in the Sunshine State, hopefully this law is a step in the right direction. Everyone has the right to an attorney, and in the case of disabled children, this legal representation is even more necessary.
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Tag: special needs children
This Special-Needs Teen Gave Herself and Her Favorite Charity the Birthday Gift of a Lifetime
Gabi Ury of Boulder, Colorado had it rough from the very beginning.
She was born with VATER Syndrome, a condition that causes a cluster of birth defects in the vertebrae, anus, trachea, esophagus and kidneys. Since birth, Ury has endured 14 surgeries to correct the effects of the syndrome, which left her with missing vertebrae and calf muscles. But her peppy spirit has remained intact despite all the time she’s spent in the hospital, and when she turned 16 on April 17, she wanted to give herself an incredible birthday present by attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest-held plank by a female.
Gabi has tried to break records before by constructing the longest hopscotch course and trying to put the most-ever socks on one foot. She fell short both times, but then she figured out she was a plank prodigy during tryouts for the volleyball at the Dawson School in Lafayette. She couldn’t run a mile with the other volleyball hopefuls, so volleyball coach Holly Novak suggested she spend the time performing an equally grueling exercise: planking, in which a person assumes a push-up position and holds it while resting on the forearms. The first time she tried, Gabi held a plank for 12 minutes. “I was astonished the first time she did it,” Novak told Kate Gibson of the Denver Post. “I have to give all the credit to Gabi on this. I have supplied some workouts, but she has really gone after the record.”
Twelve minutes was only the beginning for Gabi. She began practicing holding a plank for 40 minutes or more. “Boredom is a problem and distraction helps a lot,” Gabi told Gibson. She planks while watching ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ reading a book, and enjoying the company of her dog. She was aiming to break the record for a 40 minute, 1 second plank held by Boise’s Eva Bulzomi, and to raise money for Children’s Hospital Colorado while doing so.
Gabi made her attempt on April 19 at the East Boulder Rec center, and as you can see in this video, she held the plank for an incredible one hour and 20 minutes. Now she just needs to wait for the people at Guinness to verify her accomplishment. In the process, she has raised more than $17,000 for Children’s Hospital. Now that’s what we call a sweet sixteen year old.
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These Blind, Deaf Therapy Dogs Show Special Needs Children That Anything Is Possible
It was Serendipity that inspired animal behaviorist Erika Proctor to focus her life’s work on dogs with special needs. Seven years ago, Proctor watched as a small ball of white fluff was tossed from a truck window, landing on a nearby driveway. When she walked over to see what it was, she was amazed to find a beautiful, white Great Dane puppy. “She was as white as falling snow, and as soft as silk, but she was unresponsive to sound, and had what looked to be permanently squinted eyes,” Proctor told The Huffington Post. A veterinarian advised Proctor to euthanize the animal, saying that she couldn’t live a full life and might become vicious due to her disabilities. But Proctor wasn’t about to give up on the puppy, which she named Serendipity. “This most perfect, most pure white creature was just an impressionable infant, who could learn and flourish like any other pup with the proper care and guidance,” she said.
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After successfully training Serendipity to become a therapy dog — and seeing the extraordinary effect she has on everyone she meets — Proctor realized that there are many other special needs dogs that also deserve a chance at life. So she started Green Dogs Unleashed, a tax-exempt, volunteer-run nonprofit in Troy, Virginia, dedicated to saving, rehabilitating and finding homes for these animals. Since the rescue’s inception in 2013, the group has placed around 200 dogs — some with disabilities and some without — with the goal of training them to become therapy dogs. “These are mostly animals which communities around the country have thrown away like garbage. The majority are shelter dogs, that would otherwise be deemed unadoptable and euthanized,” Proctor said. “We rescue these precious creatures from shelters, rehabilitate and train them, using their special needs as a gift, not a burden.”
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The training is quite intensive. Dogs have to successfully complete basic obedience training before going through an additional six- to eight-week program to become a therapy dog. If the dog passes their evaluation, they become part of the therapy team, visiting seniors in assisted living communities and children in schools for students with special needs. Currently, 22 dogs are in the therapy program. “The kids just light up,” Proctor told local TV station CBS19. “They see that the dog is able to overcome what’s different about them and it makes them no less of a dog and they’re able to connect with them on that level.”
To help Proctor and the other volunteers in their mission to rescue and train special needs animals, visit Green Dogs Unleashed’s GoFundMe page. Funds will be used to pay veterinary bills and assist with transportation costs of saving dogs from across the U.S. If that doesn’t sway you, just take a look at these adorable photos of the dogs they’re trying to place in permanent homes.
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