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Disability advocates warn Ryland’s Law implementation increases institutionalization risk for children with disabilities
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Summary
Disability-rights testimony at the U.S. Commission advisory hearing said Ryland’s Law implementation can compound bias and push children with disabilities toward institutional placements; advocates urged ADA/Olmstead analysis and more expertise in case planning.
Cori (Cori) Dunn, director of public policy at Disability Rights North Carolina, told the advisory committee that children and parents with disabilities are overrepresented in the child-welfare system and that current practice risks institutionalizing children rather than supporting family‑based care.
Dunn cited legal frameworks used in disability law, including the ADA and the Olmstead integration mandate, and said those principles should inform reunification and placement decisions. She said any change of placement is risky and urged ‘‘greater involvement of people with a higher level of expertise’’ in case decisions for medically complex children.
Dunn and other panelists described psychiatric residential treatment facilities and intermediate-care settings as resembling carceral institutions in some cases and lacking evidence-based benefits for long-term outcomes; she estimated rates near "$500 and change a day" for those placements and said the state should weigh institutional harms against family preservation efforts.
The committee requested written comments and supporting documentation; Dunn said she will provide additional materials and urged the committee to include disability‑specific analysis in its report to the Commission.
