Inland Empire Program
Staff
Heather McGunigle, Esq., Director of the Inland Empire Program
Norma Montano, Administrative Assistant
Program Description
The Inland Empire is one of the fastest growing areas in California and covers nearly 30,000 square miles. Yet legal services are dismayingly scarce for low-income people with disabilities. Therefore, the Disability Rights Legal Center has expanded its offices to serve San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
The Inland Empire Program provides education advocacy services, civil rights litigation, and participates in numerous collaborative efforts to facilitate interagency cooperation among agencies charged with providing programs, services and supports to children and adults with disabilities.
Education Advocacy in the Inland Empire
The Inland Empire Program works to counteract the historical lack of oversight in the Inland counties over the provision of special education services to low-income students with disabilities. Some of the systemic problems we are combating in the area include, failure to assess, poor assessments, inadequate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and failure to implement existing IEPs. The Inland Empire Program works with pro bono co-counsel, community advocates, law clerks, and parents towards this end. Special Education Advocacy,
Civil Rights Litigation in the Inland Empire
The Inland Empire Program assists our Civil Rights attorneys in DRLC’s Los Angeles office in litigating class action access cases in the Inland Empire. Those cases involve access to higher education, access to courts, and access to educational and mental health services in juvenile hall. Civil Rights Litigation.
Collaborative Efforts in the Inland Empire
The Inland Empire Program has developed a services Matrix for children with disabilities in conjunction with Inland Empire Health Plan. This Matrix helps to clarify the service responsibilities among multiple entities, including State Regional Centers, Medi-Cal, California Children’s Services, Local Educational Agencies, and County Mental Health Departments. Regular stakeholder roundtables are convened to facilitate interagency communication and strategies. The Inland Empire Program is also a member of the Inland Empire Disabilities Collaborative and co-chaired the Education Committee for the Collaborative’s first Disabilities Expo held on October 26, 2006 at Loma Linda University. The Inland Empire Program also participates in a working group that resulted from DRLC’s litigation against the County of San Bernardino’s Probation Department, Superintendent of Schools, and County Mental Health, involving education and mental health services for children in juvenile hall.
We work closely with our Inland Empire Advisory Board, and also offer assistance with Cancer Related Legal Issues, Outreach and Training.
DRLC Sues Riverside Mental Health and Riverside County for Constitutional Violations & Discrimination -On April 30, DRLC filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief against Riverside Mental Health and other defendants for their violation of the due process rights and discrimination against a 17-year old African American girl with mental disability committed to a psychiatric facility for involuntary mental health treatment. The defendants sought a temporary and full conservatorship for the child through the Riverside Office of the Public Guardian. The notice that they served, on her, placed the onus on her to call the public defender or the patients’ rights advocate to request to challenge the conservatorship. Neither her mother, nor the public defender (or the patients’ rights advocate) was served with a copy of this notice. Because of her disability and her youth, the child could not understand or act on the notice and so she was unable to take steps to challenge the conservatorship. A temporary conservator was then appointed on ex parte application without due process being afforded to her. The temporary conservator then sought to have the child placed in a long-term locked facility in Los Angeles. >> More Information on the Complaint
Contact
To discuss your disability related legal issue please call our toll-
free number at (866) 999-DRLC (3752) or (213) 736-1031. If you are calling about Doe2 v. County of San Bernardino, et al., please be sure to mention that to our staff when you call.