children with disabilities

Two Central Florida representatives have co-sponsored a bill that would put extra safeguards in place for students with special needs at risk of running away from school.

The state quickly launched an appeal after a federal judge ruled that Florida has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and needs to make changes to keep children with “complex” medical conditions out of nursing homes.

A federal judge has ruled that Florida violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the rights of children. It comes after an investigation found that Florida’s Medicaid program was unnecessarily institutionalizing kids in nursing homes.

A civil rights lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against Florida health regulators a decade ago has finally gone to trial. Carol Marbin Miller, the deputy investigations editor at the Miami Herald, spoke to WLRN about the case, and her eye-opening reporting on the living conditions of these children.

The issue of care for medically fragile children, who have severe health conditions, drew attention in 2012 after a Justice Department investigation found Florida was unnecessarily institutionalizing children with disabilities in nursing homes.

Abuse ranges from being struck by a family member to cyberbullying. A study reports that nearly a third of children with disabilities have experienced such violence. And that's surely an undercount.

Lawmakers voted to give $150,000 stipends to parents whose children were once enrolled in the NICA state program but had been dropped when the children succumbed to their birth injuries.

Attorneys for families of children with disabilities have asked a federal appeals court to block an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis aimed at preventing school mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The attorneys filed a 34-page motion Thursday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking an injunction against the executive order while an appeal of a lower-court ruling moves forward.

In a wave of lawsuits, families are arguing that restrictions on mask mandates infringe on disability rights, forcing children to choose between their health and their education.

Parents of children with disabilities are asking a federal judge in South Florida for a preliminary injunction against an executive order that Gov. Ron DeSantis issued July 30 to try to block school districts from requiring students to wear masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Developmental disability service providers are the latest to join a list of employers who say they're facing a worker shortage. Advocates say direct support professionals who left the industry because of health concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic aren't returning now because of low wages.

Special education services were severely disrupted when schools closed in spring 2020. In many places, they have yet to fully resume. Now, families are demanding schools take action.