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- EIN 23-7268143
- (202) 467-5730
- 1101 15th St NW Ste 205 Washington DC 20005-5002 USA
- http://www.bazelon.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Social Action & Advocacy, Crime & Law, Disabilities, Disabled Persons Rights, Mental Health, Mental Health Disorders, Public Interest Law
Mission: The mission of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is to protect and advance the rights of adults and children who have mental disabilities. The Center envisions an America where people who have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities exercise their own life choices and have access to the resources that enable them to participate fully in their communities.
Geographic areas served: national
Programs: The Bazelon Center combines litigation and policy reform with training and technical assistance for local legal services and advocacy agencies, and produces publications--including an extensive Web site--interpreting federal laws and entitlements. Currently we target this comprehensive approach at four goals: 1) a new vision of hope, dignity and human rights focused on preserving anti-discrimination laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and implementing the recovery-oriented mental health system recommended by the President's New Freedom Commission; 2) ensuring access to opportunity--for children, through reforming the foster care system and enforcing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, with its mandate of positive behavioral supports, and for adults, promoting and preserving access to Medicaid rehabilitation services and ensuring access to public benefits for people with mental illnesses being released from incarceration; 3) promoting self-determination and respect for choice through expanding the use and recognition of advance directives for psychiatric care, encouraging replication of self-directed care models, and urging educational institutions to reform discriminatory mental health policies that punish students for seeking treatment; and 4) holding public systems accountable for the safety and welfare of the people they serve--challenging exclusion from school of children with emotional disorders and segregation of people with disabilities in nursing homes, institutions and "adult homes," and combating the criminalization of people with mental illnesses.