Then it really makes no sense that MA DCF can remove a child from loving parents, stuck that child in psychiatric ward, and keep that child in custody for over year. When that child is not even a resident of MA.
...snipped by me for focus
I am not sure what kind of education the child is getting if any.
emphasis mine
At this stage of her academic life, IMO, it's vital that in the future Justina be given the options available to young people who graduate with a solid secondary education. In order for her to have that kind of background, IMO, she needs to believe that she will be able to finish high school and continue on to post-secondary studies, and guidance with the preparation to do just that.
According to BCH promotional material, teachers are an integral part of the Bader 5 treatment team.
"There are two teachers on Bader 5, one for the school-age program and one for adolescents. They can work with your child's school to better understand your child's learning needs, facilitate a plan to help your child complete assignments while hospitalized and make recommendations for additional services or testing your child may need. They provide tutoring to patients while they are hospitalized." (
http://www.childrenshospital.org/ce...tient-service-program/about-us/treatment-team)
Since the 16 bed Bader 5 unit was designed to be a facility for short term diagnostic stays, this kind of tutoring might be adequate. However, given the extreme length of time in which BCH kept Justina locked up and isolated in Bader 5, the resources available would not have provided the information, support, and stimulation normally expected of an educational program covering nearly two academic years of a patient's young life. Particularly those last two years of instruction before that child enters secondary school. This is a very important time during which the prerequisites are chosen for courses which will meet the criteria for entering post-secondary institutes of the young patient's choice. The probable admission requirements for a university must be included when planning the Grade 10, 11, and 12 courses that must be passed. So, the planning must start in Grade 8 and 9--which courses must be passed in Grade 9 in order to begin the secondary progression in that subject from 10 to 11 to 12 (and possibly 13 depending on the district).
According to BCH's document Bader 5: Helping with your child's psychiatric hospitalization: a practical guide for parents (
http://www.childrenshospital.org/~/...Psychiatry Inpatient Service/parentguide.ashx), three hours each week day are allotted to school work. (Therapy takes up four hours week afternoons.) Presumably the scheduling was constructed for children who are in Bader 5 for a more usual stay measured in days rather than months, or years. Given that the mix of ages and grades will be fluid, and the number of children in Bader 5 may differ on any given day, a tutor might be responsible for from one to sixteen children. That is, a student might have access to between the attention of a tutor prepared to work with adolescents for from three hours (just one patient in the adolescent category), to 11.25 minutes of individual attention each day (all beds taken by adolescents.).
JMO, but being isolated from friends, family, and religious sacraments for thirteen months is too high price to pay for "free" tutoring. As is being forced to ask permission for the bathroom to be unlocked every time it's needed, and possibly being observed during those private functions. As is listening to loved ones being denigrated by strangers. As is being treated with medications and procedures without giving personal consent, but with the speedy consent given instead by an unquestioning bureaucratic guardian. As is being cut off from fresh air, sunlight, and the replacement of familiar working medications with new (possibly experimental) drugs. As is having to deal with side effects of new regimes. No tutor on earth is worth the physical and emotional pain that this past year has cost Justina.
The opportunities to explore the academic elements of research, reading, writing, discussion, debate, as well as studying both required and optional arts and science disciplines are part of a regular school curriculum. (Hard to cram these elements a three-hour session, let alone 22 minutes if one is sharing a tutor with seven other children.) As well, there are also cultural aspects to an education which are incredibly important--students learn from their peers as well as from their teacher. They learn through participation in arts projects and in sports activities, through attending performances and visiting galleries, watching sports events and participating in museum programs. They learn about their community through field trips and listening to guest speakers. There are distance education programs available which enrich the educational experiences children who do not attend traditional schools. There are many resources available to children who are home schooled. I wonder if the education DCF and BCH provided in Bader 5 included these resources. Of course, this would have required that Justina would be allowed to use a computer or watch television programs and Bader 5 did not allow Justina to have a cell phone, a television, an iPad or other access to the internet. (
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tal-against-parents-wishes-moved-clinic.html; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lletier-kidnapped-doctors-use-guinea-pig.html). It would be interesting to see the records kept of the interactions between the teacher assigned to tutor adolescents, and Justina. How much time did they spend together? How were assignments chosen? What resources was Justina allowed to use? What was the training of the teacher? What was his/her area of specialization? How much time was spent setting academic goals and discussing future training plans?
This last item is, IMO, very important. According to the Mass. Foster Child Bill of RIghts: Every foster child "shall receive assistance in acquiring life skills, education, training and career guidance to accomplish personal goals and prepare for the future and be informed of the post-secondary educational and employment supports available to youth in care through the Department." (
http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dcf/foster-child-rights.pdf). During her time locked in to Bader 5, Justina was under the guardianship of DCF and deserved at minimum the quality of care outlined in the FCBoR. She was a defacto foster child of DCF, and DCF should have ensured that the Bader 5 team was respectful of Justina's educational needs.)
One stated aim of the Bader 5 team teachers is that they intend to work with a child's school to devise a plan in which certain assignments can be completed during the child's hospital stay so the child will not lose touch with the work being covered in class. This might have proven difficult to accomplish in Justina's case since she was enrolled in a private school under an Individualized Education Plan necessitated by a learning disability. Difficult to accomplish, perhaps, but surely not impossible. The psychologist who made the diagnosis and precipitated this case should have understood the importance of her education to Justina's future. After all. even DCF couldn't legally hold her after she turned 18 and Justina wouldn't be under their control forever. She would have to go into the community and support herself. The Bader 5 team assigned to Justina should, therefore, have ensured that she would not have to make up for years of educational neglect.
According to one of the family's lawyers, M. Stavers, Justina is now three trimesters behind her former classmates and has been given no real education since BCH made their decision to keep her in the extreme academic isolation of Bader 5. (
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/sick-connecticut-teen-justina-pelletier-foster-care/story?id=22668251) FWIW, Justina's older sister Jennifer has her own theory about the lack of schooling received during her time in Bader 5. ''...They say adolescents suffering from Somatoform are depressed, listless and uninterested in school or activities.*She used to love school, she spent hours at the ice skating rink with her friends and hiking with her dog.
'She is certainly listless and depressed now – it is like they have created those symptoms to suit their own ends…" '* (
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lletier-kidnapped-doctors-use-guinea-pig.html).
I hope that Justina will be able to regain her academic focus and confidence, and that she will receive consistent support as she begins the hard process of playing catch up. With any luck, that schooling will be well out of the control of the Bader 5 team.
