By Jill Nolin | Editor
The Justice Department’s new interpretation of a landmark disability case that originated out of Georgia was immediately met with concern earlier this summer. The DOJ issued an opinion in June saying it no longer believed the 1999 Olmstead decision requires states to provide community-based services for people with disabilities — or that the feds have a duty to enforce the decision.
What does that mean for a longstanding settlement agreement with the DOJ and the state of Georgia? What about beyond that? If you ask the head of the state agency that oversees disability services in Georgia, nothing has changed. Disability advocates, though, are anxious about what the potential lack of federal oversight might mean for Georgians with disabilities.
The Olmstead litigants, Lois Curtis (right) and Elaine Wilson (center), pose for a photo with their attorney, Sue Jamieson, in this undated photo. Photo courtesy of the Center on Human Development and Disability, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, the University of Georgia
CIVIL RIGHTS
By Ellie Fivas
The Justice Department has signaled that the federal government no longer plans to enforce a landmark court ruling that has shaped Georgia’s mental health and disability care system for nearly two decades, although the leader of the state agency responsible for disability services says nothing has changed in his mind.
A June memo from the U.S. Department of Justice argues that federal disability laws do not require states to provide community-based care to people with disabilities that limit their ability to do what the Americans with Disabilities Act considers “major life activities,” such as eating. These services allow many people with disabilities to live and receive care in their communities rather than be institutionalized in state hospitals.
The memo adds that the federal government doesn’t have the authority to oversee and monitor whether states are providing those services, despite requirements in the law. Disability advocates warn this could reduce pressure on states to fund and expand community-based services.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services says Muscogee County Schools is delaying children in foster care from enrolling in schools, a claim the district denies. Getty Images
EDUCATION
By Ross Williams
A state agency is accusing the Muscogee County School District of violating state and federal law by delaying the enrollment of foster children.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services says the disagreement centers on the interpretation of a bill signed into law this year intended to help get kids in foster care enrolled in new schools more quickly.
According to the letter, Muscogee is interpreting Senate Bill 431, which passed both chambers unanimously this year and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp in May, to require a foster child’s case manager to directly enroll the child in school. According to the state agency, any department-approved custodian, like foster parents, or agency personnel, not just case managers, are allowed to enroll students.
Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Rep. Deborah Ross of North Carolina, speak with reporters outside Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder
IMMIGRATION
By Maya Homan
Democratic members of Congress are calling for an immigration detention center in southwest Georgia to be shut down after conducting an oversight visit this week, describing conditions that included overcrowded cells and lack of adequate medical care.
Stewart Detention Center, a facility run by the private prison company CoreCivic, is one of the largest detention centers in the country.
Georgia Reps. Hank Johnson and Nikema Williams toured the facility for roughly four hours Tuesday alongside Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and North Carolina Reps. Valerie Foushee and Deborah Ross, and spoke with three people detained in the center. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock also toured the facility Tuesday in a separate visit.
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