Team Shawnie Advocacy Group
Who We Are
Every day thousands of families face the challenge of making sure that their special needs children/adolescents are receiving the proper treatment that they deserve. More often than not they are being abused, neglected, and exploited due to their inability to communicate.
The Team Shawnie Advocacy Group has become their voice to fight for their rights. We represent families in various meetings and demand that their children receive a Free Appropriate Public Education. We also confirm that the Individual Education Disability Act is enforced and not overlooked.
Autism Advocates
How can an Advocate help me?
Discovering that your child/adolescent has a mental/physical disability is only the beginning of a lifelong battle ahead. You become overwhelmed, stumbling on obstacles along the way, leaving you with more questions than answers. You are not a public speaker, and yet, you find yourself in front of school boards, struggling to keep it together knowing that the future of your child is at stake based on your presentation. You feel alone, lost, and confused. Advocates speak for those whose voices shake in public speaking situations. They will stand with you to fight for the rights of your child.
What Is The Shawnie Bill?
This introductory video to the Team Shawnie Advocacy Group and its mission takes a brief look over the loopholes and issues currently plaguing our education and mental health system when it comes to special needs children and adolescents.
This video touches on the 3 loopholes currently being implemented into the “Shawnie Bill”, a piece of legislation aimed towards ending and closing these loopholes that have allowed for the negligence and abuse of our children and adolescents.
Share Your Story
As parents of a special needs child/adult, we know first hand the challenges that parents face. More often than not we have found ourselves at what seems like a dead-end road. However, listening to other families tell their stories while sharing our own has helped us understand that we are all in similar situations, searching for answers to help our loved ones.
Sharing your story with us will perhaps shine a light on a family in need of hope. You can send us your story by clicking here. Your story can remain anonimous if you so choose.
Residential Placement
Children with special needs, in particular, those with Autism find it extremely difficult to be inside of vehicles for long periods of time. So when the child’s condition requires residential placement the parents are left with the daunting task of transporting the child to a place chosen by the school district, sometimes many miles away while bypassing closer options.
When it comes to residential placement we believe that parents should have the final say as to where their child/adolescent will live.
Incident Report 1
During Shawnie’s journey from residential place to residential place, there were a total of over 400 incident reports filed by the numerous institutions that Shawnie attended.
This particular video examines one of the incident reports filed by the Cardinal Cushing Center Staff. The entire podcast series can be listened to by clicking here.