[Massachusetts-NFB] MAPBC May Meeting Minutes

Thu May 23 20:08:40 UTC 2024

Good Afternoon,

Pasted below and attached please find the minutes from our most recent
parents' division meeting.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Kind Regards,
Liz

**********

The parents' division met on Thursday, May 16th. The meeting began at
6:07PM. The meeting attendees included:

Jennifer Bose

Youme Nguyen Ly

Hai Nguyen Ly

Liz Lesperance

Stephanie Valdes

Stephanie recited the NFB pledge.

Hai took down the April meeting minutes in Liz's absence. Liz put forth a
motion to approve the minutes which Youme seconded. The minutes were
approved unanimously. We also needed to approve the minutes from our
meeting in February. We did not meet in March. Hai motioned to approve the
February minutes which was seconded by Youme. The February minutes were
unanimously approved.

The parents' division would like to be involved in the upcoming BELL
Academy. Stephanie is the coordinator of the program. She shared that the
program will be held at St. Mary's Parish in Waltham. The address is 133
School St, Waltham, MA 02451. The age group for the program is 7 - 12
years. At this time, there are 2 children who have signed up. Jen is
interested in assisting with the program if time allows. Stephanie shared
that they are looking for a photographer/videographer to document each
day's activities. This resource can then be distributed to the affiliate.
The national office liked the idea of the final day of the academy being an
open house and may incorporate this idea into their programs going forward.
Stephanie suggested having the parents division get involved with the final
day of BELL.

Hai and Jenn inquired about the curriculum for the program. Stephanie
shared that the curriculum will be tailored to where the children are
currently at. This assessment falls under Ellen's responsibility. Games
will be incorporated into the lessons and there will also be related
activities such as Storytime, preparing lunches, and recess. The national
office is requesting a copy of the schedule for the first day, last day,
and a regular day. Hai shared that it would be a good idea for volunteers
to receive a timeline of what their expectations are so they can prepare
appropriately. Stephanie shared that volunteers would be expected to arrive
at 9am and stay until 4pm so there is time to clean the room each day. If
you are planning on volunteering for the BELL program, please let Stephanie
know by the end of May as background checks are required. Hai expressed a
concern about logistics and program management. Hai expressed that
everything needs to be documented since this is our first attempt to
establish a BELL academy in our state.

Hai inquired if we have been in communication with any individuals from
previous states who have successfully held this program. Debbie Stein,
Denise Avant, and Patty Chang were all part of the committee in Chicago.

Stephanie noted that there is a BELL announcement on our affiliate Facebook
page which she would like us to share. Stephanie cautioned that any posts
about BELL must originate from the affiliate Facebook account.

Hai shared the highlights of the presidential release which we all had a
chance to review.

Since it has been 2 years since our division's inception it is now time to
hold elections for our 5 board positions. Our current slate of officers is
as follows:

President, Stephanie P Valdes

Vice President, Hai Nguyen Ly

Secretary/Treasurer, Liz Lesperance

Board Position 1, Jennifer Bose

Board Position 2, Youme Nguyen Ly

We discussed holding elections or maintaining the current slate as we have
a limited number of members at this time. Ultimately, we decided to
maintain the current slate. Jenn put forth a motion to maintain the slate
which Hai seconded. The motion was approved unanimously.

This week Justin Salisbury emailed Kyra and Liz to share a legislative
update. There was a Health and Human Services ruling on May 9th relative to
the Rehab Act's Section 504 as well as programs operated by the federal
HHS. The summary of this ruling Lexology is pasted below at the end of this
email.

Our next meeting will be Thursday, June 13th.

The meeting adjourned at 7:07PM.

----------------------------------------------------------

CHILD WELFARE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

The final rule discusses the wide range of discriminatory barriers that
children, parents, caregivers, foster parents and prospective parents with
disabilities may encounter while navigating child welfare systems. These
barriers may include failing to provide reasonable modifications, failing
to place children in the most integrated setting appropriate for their
needs, or stereotypes about whether individuals with disabilities can
safely care for a child.

The final rule clarifies that Section 504’s nondiscrimination provisions
apply to HHS-funded child welfare programs and activities and should be
interpreted to protect all individuals with a disability seeking access to
such services, including children, biological or adoptive parents,
caregivers, guardians, foster parents or prospective parents.

HHS observes that child welfare agencies and providers are obligated by law
to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children in the welfare system;
however, the decision of whether a caregiver can provide for a child’s
safety and wellbeing should be based on facts applicable to the individual
rather than stereotypes about individuals with disabilities. To that end,
the final rule clarifies that it does not narrow or limit recipients’
existing and long-standing obligations under other civil rights statutes,
including the ADA. Rather, the Section 504 final rule sets forth additional
prohibitions specific to child welfare programs and services that are often
used to:

- Deny a qualified parent with a disability custody, control or visitation
to a child

- Deny a qualified parent with a disability the opportunity to benefit from
services provided by a child welfare agency

- Terminate parental rights or legal guardianship of a qualified individual
with a disability

- Deny a qualified caregiver, foster parent, companion or prospective
parent with a disability the opportunity to participate or benefit from
child welfare programs based on discriminatory criteria, including IQ tests
or algorithms

- Require children, on the basis of disability, to be placed outside the
family home through custody relinquishment, voluntary placement or other
forfeiture of parental rights in order to receive necessary services.

HHS observes that this is not an exhaustive list, and all HHS-funded child
welfare recipients are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of
disability in all of their programs and activities.

Source:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1dbada09-587a-457c-aa8d-44fe0e0b095b#:~:text=The%20final%20rule%20clarifies%20that,parents%2C%20caregivers%2C%20guardians%2C%20foster
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/massachusetts-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20240523/9b948e42/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MAPBC May Meeting Minutes.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 16992 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/massachusetts-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20240523/9b948e42/attachment.docx>