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Welcome to the new home of the Michigan
Association for Children with Emotional Disorders. Check back often for exciting new updates
to the MACED website. |
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For the past several years MACED
staff, in association with volunteer mental health professionals and pro bono
counsel have assisted with cases of children with emotional disorders who are
charged with offenses in the juvenile justice system. The number of children in this predicament
has increased dramatically over the past several years. More and more children with untreated
serious emotional disorders whose symptoms are mistaken for delinquent
behavior are relegated to the juvenile justice system and often committed to
the custody of FIA. In lieu of
treatment, children are placed in facilities that have a punitive orientation
with a correctional focus and that provide inadequate or no mental health
treatment. Reliable data show that 65%
of children committed to these facilities through the juvenile justice system
suffer from a diagnosable mental illness and that 40% of these children have
a serious emotional disorder or mental illness. These children are extremely vulnerable to
physical and sexual assault, self-mutilation and suicide. All juvenile justice placements practice
“positive peer culture” that is often injurious to children with
disabilities, unable to conform to rigorous point systems. Mental health treatment is often not
provided in these facilities or when provided, it is no the type or intensity
that is needed for the child. There
are no accommodations made for children with disabilities who are “stuck” in
these placements. MACED established a juvenile
justice project in October, 2002 to assist children with serious emotional
disorders who are charged with juvenile offences. The project endeavors to provide legal
representation to juveniles in this predicament; arrange for mental health
evaluations and expert opinions in an effort to divert the juvenile from the
criminal system to the mental health system.
MACED staff is currently representing 35 children in the UWCS
catchment area faced with juvenile charges in an attempt to prevent
commitment to correctional facilities and obtain needed mental health care
for them. The project has greatly
expanded its capacity this year with the assistance of a Fellow and
additional lawyer. Eventually, the
project will recruit pro bono attorneys and provide training in development
of mental health defenses. MACED staff is working with
policymakers to change policies regarding treatment of juveniles, including
requiring public mental health agencies to provide mental health care to
children before children are involved with the juvenile system; requiring courts
to establish meaningful diversion programs; and prohibiting placement of
children with emotional disorders in facilities that do not provide mental
health treatment and fail to make adequate accommodations for the child’s
disabilities.
view juvenile justice project flyer |
