Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From NPR: “They were promised protection. Instead, these kids with disabilities died in foster care”
An NPR investigation — including an analysis of federal data on hundreds of thousands of children — shows that kids with disabilities are the largest group that go into foster care.
More significantly, they suffer the worst outcomes in foster care — getting trapped in the system longer than children without disabilities and dealing with lifelong harm.
One reason, NPR found, is the extreme complexity of the system.
“Caring for children with disabilities in foster care involves much more than meeting their medical needs,” explained Bobbi Andrew-Green, an Alaska foster parent to children with complex medical needs. She navigates child welfare, mental health, Medicaid, special education, home nursing and other service systems. “It is beyond complex to the point where some days, I’m dizzy,” she said.[…]
• From NPR: “Trump administration reverses stance on integration of people with disabilities
[…]Last week, a federal judge agreed to strip out mentions of "integration" from federal regulations tied to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits disability discrimination. The judge did so after the Justice Department declined to defend its own rules in a lawsuit brought by several states challenging the legality of those rules.
[…]The court’s decision removes regulations from Section 504 that explicitly required federally funded programs to provide services in the “most integrated setting.”
“That lack of clarity will impact people’s rights. It will likely impact what states do and how they behave,” says Jennifer Mathis, a disability rights lawyer who helps lead the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law.[…]
• From The New Arab: “Ms Rachel warns disabled Gaza children face 'torture' under Israeli siege”
Renowned children’s entertainer Ms Rachel has called for urgent action over the plight of Palestinian children with disabilities in Gaza, warning that starvation and Israel’s restrictions on medical supplies are putting already vulnerable children at further risk as Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory approaches its third year.
[…]A June report by UN investigators found that Israel’s war had caused a “severe orphan crisis”, while wounded Palestinian children “face a lifetime of disability”.[…]
• From CBS News: “Severely disabled toddler euthanized in the Netherlands under new rules on the controversial practice”
A severely disabled 1-year-old child has been euthanized by doctors in the Netherlands, a government review board has confirmed. It is the first case reported by authorities that was guided by new rules allowing for the termination of life of seriously ill children between the ages of 1 and 12 in the European nation.
[…]The Netherlands introduced the rules in 2024, which apply to children suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement, and for whom doctors conclude there is no reasonable alternative to ending their suffering.[…]
• From Miami Herald: “Hope Florida led people with disabilities to dead ends as state misused $10M”
Liz Goodman struggled for years to get support for Logan, her 17-year-old autistic son, through government programs with long waitlists.
[…]It was frustrating enough that Hope Florida, working with the state’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities, led her to dead ends. Then she read recent stories about a leaked grand jury report. It found that the Hope Florida Foundation, the nonprofit created to support the program, was part of a “sophisticated scheme” by [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis’ administration, one that diverted $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds meant for the public toward political campaigns.
Goodman and nine others from the disability community who spoke with the Tampa Bay Times are outraged. They believe politics were prioritized over their critical needs.[…]
• From SBS News: “Study Shows Healthy Family Relations Lower Depression in Parents of Children With Disabilities, Highlighting Need for Public Responsibility”
A recent study has revealed that while parents of children with disabilities experience more complex and sustained stress compared to typical households, healthier family relationships correlate with higher self-esteem and lower levels of depression.
[…]The research team suggested, "Family health is likely caused by socio-structural problems and gaps in welfare systems rather than simply a lack of individual family capacity or personal vulnerability. Therefore, to restore the family health of families with children with disabilities, there is a need to strengthen the public responsibility of the state and society."[…]
• From The Irish Times: “Budget 2027: Permanent disability support grant to be introduced”
A permanent disability support grant is to be introduced in next month’s budget as a “first step” in acknowledging the additional costs people with disabilities face.
The payment will “not meet the cost of disability”, a Department of Social Protection source said, but it will represent a “small improvement” on the €500 and €400 ‘once-off’ cost-of-disability payments provided in recent budgets.
[…]Government data put the additional costs faced by disabled people at between €10,766 and €15,500 per year, with additional expenses including extra energy costs, mobility equipment, home adaptations and modified modes of transport.[…]
• From Social Care Today: “‘Heinous crime’: women with disabled children struggle to find domestic abuse refuge”
Women fleeing domestic abuse who have children with disabilities are struggling to find suitable accommodation, a report by Women’s Aid says.
Just 14.3% of women with disabled children supported by the charity were placed in a refuge by the end of their case.[…]
• From Disability Scoop: “Deadline Nears For Education Department To Spend Special Ed Research Funds”
For months, there have been concerns that the U.S. Department of Education could allow millions in special education research dollars to lapse. Now, a federal judge is stepping in.
[…U.S. District Judge Allison D.] Burroughs said she opted to take a soft touch in the case based on assurances from the Education Department “that they intend to obligate the funds at issue before the deadline.”
However, she noted that “if it appears, as September 30 approaches, that defendants have misled the court and the funds will not be obligated by the deadline, the court may reconsider whether there has been undue delay warranting injunctive relief.”[…]
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