Out-of-district segregation of school-aged children with disabilities is increasing in New Jersey alone, of all the 50 states.

Twenty-eight years after the passage of the federal law guaranteeing children with disabilities the right to an education with their non-disabled peers, New Jersey is almost alone among all states in supporting the continued construction of separate public education facilities.

Six new segregated private special education schools have been approved by the New Jersey Department of Education since 2000-2001.

New Jersey sends a far higher percentage of children to out-of-district separate education schools -- three times higher than the national average -- than any of the other 49 states and the territories. Only the District of Columbia is worse.

More than 90% of the funds New Jersey districts receive to assist in the payment of services for children whose special education costs exceed $40,000 a year is being spent on out-of-district placements rather than to support the child in-district.

New Jersey is second in the nation (after Alabama) in the number of adults who end up in institutional settings rather than living and receiving services in their own communities.

Serious injuries at New Jersey’s seven state institutions have risen at a rate of over 50% during the past five years.

New Jersey is one of the only states in the nation facing federal sanction, which could cause the state to forfeit tens of millions in aid, due to the levels of abuse and neglect in its state institutions.

Certain New Jersey legislators are trying to pass a bill (Substitute Bill A 2849/S2142) which would protect the rights of private facilities operating on public funds to use restraints and aversives as "treatment" for people with disabilities.

Restraints and other aversives are considered abuse when used by parents in public places. Schools do not use them on nondisabled students because state statutes prohibit corporal punishment. Restraints and aversives are prohibited in Community Care Homes for children and adults with disabilities because they violate community sensibilities. They cannot be used as treatment on prisoners, on elderly residents of nursing facilities, or even on pets.

The use of restraints and aversives must be hidden away, out of view from the general public and from the authorities, because it offends public standards of decency and conflicts with statutes concerning abuse and corporal punishment. Therefore the children and adults on whom restraints and aversives are used must be kept out of sight. RETURN TO THE TOP OF THIS PAGE AND READ AGAIN TO COMPLETE THE VICIOUS CIRCLE..............

Prepared by The Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and Neglect