Disabilities Rights Center

The DRC works to end unnecessary restraint and seclusion and abuse and neglect against all people with disabilities.

White Paper: Examining Preventable Deaths in the Developmental Service System: A Call to Action - Keeping Vulnerable Citizens Safe from Harm

2010: Disabilities Rights Center’s Investigation of the Sununu Center (formerly YDC) Finds Pervasive Pattern of Unnecessary and Excessive Force

2009: DRC finds Sununu Center employees abused and employed unnecessary and excessive force against a 14 year old with emotional disabilities.

The DRC is working to minimize the need for restraints in various settings, including public and private schools. If restraints are to be used at all, they must only be used in true emergency situations. Our research thus far has revealed that many public school systems in the state do not even have a written policy on restraint and seclusion. Children are unnecessarily being restrained and often, their emotional and physical well-being is placed in jeopardy due to the restraints.

We are gathering information on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools throughout the state. If your child is being restrained in school, please contact the receptionist at 228-0432 and she will direct your call to the appropriate person.

Rap Sheet Winter 2009: Please Don't Hurt Me PDF Version Text Version

January 15, 2009: National Disability Rights Network Releases Shocking Report on Seclusion and Restraint in U.S. Schools

December 8, 2006, Press Release: Central Registry Abuse and Neglect Task Force Issues Final Report

March 6, 2007: Sean Magoon testified at a public hearing about his son, Sean Jr.'s services through an Area Agency. The neglect of Sean's medical needs, and the indifference of QA and complaint investigators, almost cost him his life. Read his full testimony here.

last updated: 11/30/11

The Law:

• RSA 161-F:42-57 – Elderly and Adult Services, Protective Services to Adults
• RSA 169-C: 29-39 – Child Protection Act, Reporting Law
• He-M 202, Rights Protection Procedures in the Mental Health and Area Agency systems

Other places to go for help:

• Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Unit, NH Department of Justice
• NH Department of Health and Human Services
  • Adult Protection Program
  • Child Protection Program
  • Office of Long-Term Care Ombudsman: for complaints concerning residents of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities
• CALL 911 for emergency situations, after hours, or weekends or holidays

Resources:

• New report shows corporal punishment more likely for students with disabilities. See the article from Disability Scoop: “Students with disabilities are far more likely than other students to be subject to corporal punishment in American public schools, a new report finds.”
  The report from the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, Impairing Education: Corporal Punishment of Students with Disabilities in US Public Schools
  
• NH Department of Education Guidance on Considering the Use of Physical Restraints in New Hampshire School Settings
• 1-15-2009: National Disability Rights Network Releases Shocking Report on Seclusion and Restraint in U.S. Schools
• Child Maltreatment 2006, a report from the US DHHS Administration on Children and Families
• Restraint and Seclusion: A Risk Management Guide, from the National Technical Assistance Center for State Mental Health Planning
• Restraint and Seclusion While at the Hospital: What are my Rights?
• In the Name of Treatment: A Parents Guide to Protecting your Child from the Use of Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion, from TASH
• Abuse and Neglect page of the National Disability Rights Network website
• A.P.R.A.I.S. The Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions, and Seclusion, dedicated to ending the use of inhumane practices in educational and residential programs for children and youth with disabilities.
• The Lethal Hazard of Prone Restraint: Positional Asphyxiation, April 2002, a paper by Protection and Advocacy, Inc. Investigations Unit, California
• The Hartford Courant Investigative Report on Deadly Restraint, 1998
• Charly D. Miller's Restraint Asphyxia Library
• New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
• Center for Disease Control, Victimization of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury or Other Disabilities: Fact Sheets
• Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse
• The Government Accounting Office (GAO) 1999 Mental Health Report: Improper Restraint or Seclusion Use Places People at Risk
• Human Services Restraint: Replace, Reduce or Relinquish? By David Ferleger, Esq.
• Maltreatment of Children with Disabilities, the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy and clinical report