Va-LEND Trainee's Advocacy Helps Win Passage of New Law That Limits Use of Restraint, Seclusion of Schoolchildren in Virginia

April 7, 2015

Va-LEND trainee, Rebecca King, along with four fellow Social Work students at Virginia Commonwealth University played an instrumental role in the passage of SB 782, a bill that mandates the establishment of regulations that limit the use of restraint and seclusion in Virginia's public schools. The initiative, undertaken by a coalition of disability advocacy and child abuse prevention organizations ,  was in response to complaints that Virginia schoolchildren, particularly those with autism and  intellectual disabilities were getting hurt while being restrained and secluded in locked rooms within their schools. The law was signed into law in March by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.