Bout Time.....
The Obama administration on Monday released guidance to state and local child welfare agencies to prevent discrimination against parents, foster parents and adoptive parents with disabilities.
The release follows complaints to the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from parents who have had their children taken away from them and from individuals who have not been given equal opportunities to become foster or adoptive parents.
The guidance includes an overview of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities in state and local services, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits people with disabilities from being excluded from, or denied benefits of any program or activity that either receives federal financial assistance or is conducted by any executive agency.
The agencies said the guidance, or "technical assistance," underscores that Title II and Section 504 prohibit child welfare agencies from acting on unfounded assumptions, generalizations or stereotypes regarding persons with disabilities.