TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Nov 30, 2022

In addition to sleeping in office buildings, children in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) are spending upwards of eight months in hospital beds across the state, Tennessee Lookout reports. Some of the children have medical and behavioral health needs that require inpatient hospital care but others do. Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, says hospitalizing kids when they do not require hospital care is a violation of the Americans with Disability Act. A group of Democratic state lawmakers recently asked the governor to provide emergency funding to resolve the situation. Lee told WKRN that he will not dip into the state’s rainy day fund to address the issue but instead will work through the regular budget process.