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GET INVOLVED! CHILDREN
AND TEENS CAN'T WAIT!
(Pictures taken by media inside two
residential treatment programs for youth)
This has and is happening to American
youth and it needs to stop! We need your support!
Get Involved! Congressman George
Miller's very important Bill H.R. 5876: Stop Abuse in Residential
Treatment Programs for Teens Act of 2008 passed the Committee, and
on Friday, June 20, 2008, it goes to the House!
1. Write your letter of support to
Congressman George Miller:
The Honorable George Miller
Chairman
Committee on Education and Labor US
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510
Re: H.R. 5876 Stop Child
Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008
2.
Call
your Representatives in Congress and ask them to vote in favor of
H.R. 5876. Representatives can be reached
through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121; or
by visiting:
http://mygov.governmentguide.com/mygov/dbq/officials/
3. Educate your state
representatives about this issue and why it is important that they
support it, as there is much
continued work that needs to be done:
a) Print
or electronically forward the "Growing
and Strengthening America's Middle Class: Keeping
America's Kids Safe:
Stop Child Abuse in Residential
Programs Act of 2008" Pamphlet.
b) Share
the
summary of a bipartisan compromise that was reached.
I believe all advocates, parents,
lawyers, government officials, and anyone else who reads this and
who care about the safety and wellbeing of children and teens should
take a few moments to research this very important Bill and to help
by showing their support. There are plenty of things each of us can
do that only take a few moments out of our busy schedules.
The future?
Three years after enactment of H.R.
5876, the legislation would provide certain federal grant money to
states if they develop their own licensing standards for public and
private residential programs for teens. Those standards must be at
least as strong as national standards. They will need to implement a
monitoring and enforcement system, including conducting unannounced
site inspections of all programs at least once every two years.
Deaths of children in programs will continue to be investigated on a
national level.
Our work, folks, has really only
just begun! We need to not become complacent that this
Bill will solve the problems.
Click here for more information
about HR 5876.
Click here for more information
about action the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is taking.
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