ABIGAIL ADKINS COMPLETES TWO-YEAR EJW FELLOWSHIP, JOINS SLC STAFF
Abigail Adkins, an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants Inc., will complete her two-year fellowship at Southern Legal Counsel at the end of August 2021 and join the SLC staff as an attorney focused on education issues.
“We are thrilled that we were able to offer Abby a full-time position at the end of her fellowship,” said SLC Executive Director Jodi Siegel. “She will continue to support our education advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities. This includes pursuing legal challenges to the Baker Act and other measures through which children in need of help are improperly restrained, arrested, excluded from the classroom, and otherwise treated as threats.”
During her fellowship, Adkins represented 12 parents and guardians on behalf of their minor children’s educational rights. These students, who ranged in age from 6 to 18, were unable to access necessary special education services due to their behavioral health needs or to the challenges posed by COVID-19 on the school system and families. Adkins’ representation has included advocacy at school meetings, disciplinary hearings, state complaints, mediation, administrative court proceedings and federal appeals for violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Positive results Adkins obtained for her clients include:
Securing Section 504 disability accommodations in order to prevent unnecessary discipline and Baker Acts for behaviors related to the children’s mental health diagnoses, along with ongoing educational advocacy to ensure compliance with those 504 plans;
Helping students get Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans to identify positive supports to help them remain in the classroom rather than being sent home, arrested, or Baker Acted;
Obtaining monetary settlements for physical and emotional harm suffered by students in special education settings;
Securing compensatory education services as guaranteed by the IDEA for students who were denied an appropriate education by school districts; and
Collaborating with other advocacy organizations to change school district policies and procedures on crisis intervention, restraint, and execution of temporary restraining orders against students by their teachers.
These successes could not have been achieved without the support and enthusiasm of McDermott Will & Emery and Darden Restaurants, Inc.
“Over the course of my fellowship, their attorneys, even those not based in Florida, truly cared about the rights of kids here,” Adkins said. “They jumped in to provide advice, counsel, and representation to parents through a virtual pro bono clinic. Thanks to their advocacy, we helped students obtain behavior services, compensatory education, and transition planning.”
As students go back to school under new CDC guidelines and with conflicting messages from the state of Florida, student mental health must continue to be a priority, Adkins said.
“Many students are behind, not just academically, but in their social-emotional learning as well,” she said.