In Case You Haven't Heard…

Children's mental health advocates celebrated the official end of a nearly five‐year legal odyssey last month when a federal judge approved a settlement agreement over Alabama's treatment of children in foster care with mental health disabilities. Several organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), filed the federal class‐action suit in 2021, alleging that the state's placement of children with mental health disabilities in harmful institutional settings violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The settlement in the C.C. v. Buckner case will require the state to use standardized assessments to ensure that clinical necessity governs placement decisions. “Institutional placements have too often operated as restrictive and harmful substitutes for robust community‐based support, producing worse outcomes for children while purporting to provide care,” said SPLC Senior Staff Attorney Claire Sherburne.