Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From AJMC: “DOJ Abandons Olmstead Defense as Texas v Kennedy Advances”
The federal government’s posture in Texas v Kennedy—a lawsuit over HHS’s 2024 update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act—has shifted dramatically since June 2026, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) now effectively aligned with 3 states seeking to unwind the rule rather than defending it.1,2
On June 18, 2026, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion concluding that neither Section 504 nor Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires states to provide services in the “most integrated setting appropriate,” disputing the legal basis for what disability law calls the integration mandate.3 The memo does not carry the force of law on its own, but it sets the policy direction HHS and DOJ have followed since.[…]
• From The Hechinger Report: “States turn to parents to fill a home care workforce gap”
[…]Elliott’s needs are significant enough that she qualifies for Medicaid-funded care at home. But her parents struggled to find available workers to do the job. Even when they could find home care aides, they worried about the quality of the care; Kris said she once found one of Elliott’s aides drunk on the job. Eventually, Kris left her career as a program coordinator for a nonprofit that provides services for people with disabilities and took over her daughter’s care herself.
[…]At least 30 states are trying an unconventional solution to the acute shortage of home aides for children with complex needs: paying parents to care for their children. Elaborate care, whether provided by parents or others, is essential for these children to eventually be able to attend school and function in the community, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
[…]“I am a very highly qualified caregiver and I didn’t get this way just because,” [mom Toby Lunstad] said. “My child’s life depends on it. … This is valuable lifesaving work that is being done.”
Editor’s note: Toby Lunstad was also featured in the March 5, 2023 edition of Medical Motherhood.
• From THV 11: “‘We need help’: Arkansas moms beg governor, DHS amid years-long wait for important waiver”
Arkansas families are asking for help after spending months and sometimes years on a waitlist for an important waiver.
The Community and Employment Services (CES) Waiver allows disabled individuals to receive care in their community instead of an institution.
[…Mom Paige] McCammon tagged Governor Sanders in her viral post and said interactions with members of the Governor’s team have been disappointing.[
• From USA Today: “They're looking for a special needs school for their daughter. But no one will take her”
[…]Parents of children with disabilities often find themselves advocating to get their kids the support they need to thrive. While the vast majority of the 7.5 million special education students in the United States stay enrolled in regular schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, experts say some children can benefit from programs dedicated to students with disabilities. But because these programs are rare and many have years-long wait lists, some families are left with nowhere to go. Some students, like Charlotte, continue in the public school system while parents search for a solution. Others with more extreme behaviors are sent home with no educational pathway at all.[…]
• From K-12 Dive: “Special education access case appealed to Supreme Court”
Do state educational benefits carry over to students attending private schools? That’s the question the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review as they finalize their cases for the October 2026 term.
Two Massachusetts families are asking the Supreme Court to hear their challenge to a state regulation that allows their private school children to access public school special education services but only at a public school or a “neutral” location.
The families, whose children with disabilities attend Jewish day schools, said in their July 20 petition that the Massachusetts’ policy penalizes private school students who have a constitutional right to attend private schools but who want access to publicly funded special education services.[…]
• From The Washington Times: “Children disabled by illegal-immigrant crime dominate House hearing on sanctuary policies”
Parents whose children were permanently disabled in crashes involving unauthorized immigrant drivers gave impassioned testimony Tuesday on the human cost of deportation-proof “sanctuary” policies at a House Judiciary hearing.
[…]when Mr. Raskin said he acknowledged the anguish Marcus Coleman was living through after his daughter’s traumatic collision in 2024, the father batted down the gesture.
“I reject your guys’ sympathy. To be honest with you, there’s no way you guys are sorry,” Mr. Coleman told Democratic lawmakers at the House Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
[…]Mr. Coleman has advocated for the federal passage of Dalilah’s law, which would limit CDLs (Commercial Drivers Licenses) to legal residents and English speakers.
[…]Mr. Raskin prompted the Cato Institute’s top immigration scholar, David Bier, to talk about the jump in criminal migrant releases under the Trump-run ICE.
ICE data show that the agency has released 25,712 people with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, and more than 2,000 with violent criminal records since January 2025.[…]
• From Florida Weekly: “Play Without Limits”
West Palm Beach has a joyful new place to play, explore and connect.
[…]“We are really excited about this project, because we do have so many children who have mobility issues. It brings them into play, an inclusiveness with other kids,” says Leah Rockwell, Director of Parks and Recreation, West Palm Beach. “And we also have parents with mobility issues as well, so they can now interact with their kids.”
The playground project was eight years in the making. It started with some seed money and was completed with support from the city’s Parks bond, which funded a portion of the project. […]
• From BBC (United Kingdom): “Parents of seriously ill children should get paid leave, says commissioner”
Parents of children with serious illnesses or disabilities should be entitled to paid leave from work, the children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza has said.
She called on the government to introduce a legal right to 12 weeks of paid leave at 90% of normal pay in order to lift the “immense pressure” and lost earnings families face when a child develops a debilitating condition.[…]
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