Fw: Advocacy Group Tells Lawmakers 'Don't Blow It'

>> Advocacy Group Presses for Congressional Action for Children With Mental
>> Disabilities: Bazelon Center Tells Lawmakers 'Don't Blow It'
>>
>> WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Bazelon Center for
>> Mental Health Law, the nation's leading legal-advocacy organization
>> representing people with mental disabilities, today urged lawmakers to
>> act on
>> legislation to expand coverage of health care services for children with
>> severe emotional disturbances.
>>
>> "Congress can make a difference for families struggling to get
>> mental
>> health services for their children" said Laurel Stine, Director of
>> Federal
>> Relations at the Bazelon Center. "Lawmakers must not miss this critical
>> opportunity to act."
>>
>> The Family Opportunity Act would help families of children with
>> severe
>> disabilities - including children with serious mental and emotional
>> disorders
>> - get needed health and mental health care for their child. Stine and
>> other
>> mental health advocates spent the day lobbying Members of Congress to
>> pass
>> the legislation this year by handing out whistles to remind lawmakers not
>> to
>> "blow it" for families who have long waited for enactment of the bill.
>>
>> "For three years, this bill has had remarkable bipartisan support
>> in
>> both the House and the Senate," continued Stine. "If I were a member of
>> one
>> of these families, I'd be wondering why more wasn't getting done."
>>
>> The bill was first introduced in early 2000, but has died each
>> year.
>> Supporters in the Senate tried last week to pass the bill - a move
>> advocates
>> believe would have increased pressure on the House of Representatives to
>> take
>> up the measure. But efforts to move the legislation were blocked when an
>> unidentified Senator objected.
>>
>> "Families across the country are being torn apart," said Mary
>> Giliberti, a senior staff attorney at the Bazelon Center and co-author of
>> the
>> 1998 book, Relinquishing Custody: The Tragic Result of Failure to Meet
>> Children's Mental Health Needs. "The Family Opportunity Act could help
>> change
>> that."
>>
>> Currently, many families who lack adequate insurance to cover
>> much-needed mental health services for their child must face difficult
>> decisions. For some, Medicaid can offer comprehensive services, but
>> becoming
>> eligible often requires parents to choose between living in poverty or
>> giving
>> up custody of their child to the state. One in five families with
>> children
>> with mental illnesses are told by the state to give up custody of their
>> child, according to a study by the National Alliance for the Mentally
>> Ill. To
>> avoid giving up custody, many parents turn down hard-earned promotions
>> and
>> pay increases, effectively spending down to remain eligible for Medicaid
>> coverage.
>>
>> "I can think of few policies that are more regressive than the way
>> we
>> cover kids with mental illnesses," concluded Giliberti. "Something is
>> definitely broken here and it's past time we started fixing it."
>>
>> The Senate may again take up the Family Opportunity Act this week.
>>
>> The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is the nation's leading
>> legal
>> advocate for people with mental disabilities. Since its founding in 1972,
>> the
>> nonprofit organization's precedent-setting litigation and public-policy
>> advocacy has successfully challenged many barriers and expanded access to
>> public schools, workplaces, housing and many other opportunities for
>> community life. For more information, please visit the Bazelon Center
>> online
>> at www.bazelon.org.
>>
>> -30-
>>