The Department of Justice announced today that the state of Alabama – namely the Department of Human Resources and State Department of Education – “illegally discriminates against children in foster care with emotional and behavioral disabilities.”

The system has violated parts of the Americans with Disabilities Act by relegating hundreds of students with disabilities to segregated educational programs, the DOJ announced.

“Students with disabilities in Alabama’s foster care system are among the most vulnerable in the state’s care, and they deserve better than placement in segregated and inferior schools,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“The Civil Rights Division will defend every child’s right to equal educational opportunities in schools where they can be supported and challenged.”

In its investigation, the DOJ found that children in foster care who are placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs) are often enrolled into schools on the campus of the PRTF instead of schools in the community.

The on-site schools, according to the DOJ, do not provide students with grade-appropriate or adequate instruction, facilities such as libraries, gyms or science labs or extracurricular activities including sports.

“I know it ain’t real school,” one resident told the DOJ, according to its report.

The investigation also found a lack of state monitoring or oversight of the educational programs inside PTRFs, and that the state does not require PRTFs to consider whether students would be more appropriately served in community schools.

Many children are housed in these facilities for long periods of time, severing the childrens’ ties to their community, peers and social activities, the report concludes.

“Alabama has a long history of institutionalizing, isolating, and segregating children and youth with disabilities, rather than serving and educating them in their communities. We are encouraged by the DOJ’s repudiation of this unlawful and harmful practice. Alabama must do better,” said Claire Sherburne, senior staff attorney with the Children’s Rights Practice Group at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The organization, along with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, sent a public letter to the state in 2020 detailing their “grave concerns” about the health and safety of residents inside some of Alabama’s PRTFs, namely those run by a for profit company called Sequel.

The organizations have called on the state to revoke Sequel’s license to operate and relocate the children residing in the facilities after finding the facilities to be “violent and chaotic places where youth are physically and emotionally abused by staff and peers, subjected to wretched living conditions, provided inadequate supervision and medical care, and subjected to illegal seclusion and restraint.”

ADAP, an organization federally mandated to monitor PTRFs in the state, have had children in these facilities express concerns about their education, claiming a lack of grade-level school work, lack of computer access for school work, lack of any instruction when a teacher is absent and lack of tutoring or other support when help is needed.

As a result, ADAP found a “clear and profound failure” to provide educational services.

“DOJ’s investigation identified long-standing discriminatory policies and practices of both the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) that result in unequal and inferior educational opportunities being provided to foster care children in Alabama who are placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs),” said Nancy Anderson, Associate Director of ADAP.

DHR said they were “unable to comment” on the DOJs findings, saying they just received a letter from the federal agency this morning. ALSDE did not respond to a request for comment at time of writing.

However, Governor Ivey’s office said both agencies have been working proactively since 2018 to address the needs within these facilities.

“These two agencies have been in communication with the Department of Justice to inform them on the steps being taken in that regard,” said Gina Maiola, Communications Director for Ivey. “In addition to this press release, I know the ALSDE and DHR will address any specific concerns given by the USDOJ. Bottom line, a top priority of the Ivey Administration is to ensure every Alabama student has the ability to receive a quality education.”