Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. This petition will help provide funding to teach students, faculty, friends and family to recognize warning signs in themselves and others, encourage early treatment, combat the stigma that surrounds mental illness, discourage bullying and abusive behavior, and create a more compassionate and concerned society. Please pass this on, so our voices shall be heard and we can "Break the Silence" together. Thanks for your support!

On April 3, 2005, Sabrina was born to Nancy Hey. She weighed 7 lb. 4 oz. Mother and baby were released from the hospital on April 5, 2005. On April 8, 2005, Ms. Hey took Sabrina to the pediatrician for a regular post-birth follow-up. The baby had lost weight (from 7lb. 4oz. to 6lb. 12oz.) so the pediatrician recommended supplementation with formula (Ms. Hey was nursing) and a follow-up visit several days later. Ms. Hey saw the pediatrician three more times after that initial visit. Although Sabrina%u2019s weight only dropped to 6 lb. 10 oz., she did not exhibit a sustained weight gain. As a result, on that third visit, the doctor who saw Ms. Hey and Sabrina indicated that Sabrina%u2019s weight loss and lack of sustained weight gain was more significant than Ms. Hey had been led to believe and he instructed Ms. Hey to admit Sabrina to the hospital. So, on April 16, 2005, Sabrina and Ms. Hey were admitted to Virginia Hospital Center. Sabrina was admitted with a failure to thrive diagnosis. After increasing the amount of formula used to supplement Ms. Hey%u2019s breast feeding, Sabrina gained weight. On April 19, Ms. Hey was visited by a social worker from the Arlington County Child Protective Services. On April 20, Ms. Hey and her live-in companion, Kit Slitor, (not the biological father of the baby) were compelled to sign a %u201CSafety Plan%u201D presented to them by the Arlington County CPS social worker. They were informed a refusal to sign would prevent the baby from being discharged. The following day, Ms. Hey and Sabrina were released from the hospital. On the date of release, Sabrina weighed 7 lb. 5 oz. On April 22, the social worker and one or more home nurses visited the family. The social worker returned the next day, Saturday, April 23; however, Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor refused her entry, stating they wanted a %u201Ctime out%u201D while they retained legal counsel (a letter to that effect was handed to the social worker). Over the weekend they sought, and by Monday morning they retained, an attorney who immediately attempted to contact the social worker. (Another attorney who is a friend had attempted to contact the social worker over the weekend.) Notwithstanding the fact that counsel managed to speak to the social worker sometime late Monday morning, the social worker went forward with a request for an Emergency Removal Order which was granted. The Order was executed that day, April 25, and Sabrina was placed in foster care. At the time of removal, Sabrina weighed 8 lb. 1 oz., a 12 oz. gain from April 21 the day on which Sabrina was released from the hospital. On May 2, the Court made a finding of abuse and neglect and ordered psychological evaluations for both Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor. Those evaluations, which were performed by individuals hired by the County, occurred over the course of the next two weeks. Following those evaluations, a Foster Care Service Plan was developed by the County. The Plan%u2019s stated goal was %u201Creturn home%u201D and it imposed several obligations on the parents, all of which they have complied with. On July 5, the Foster Care Service Plan was presented to the Court and accepted. Although visits were occurring between Sabrina and Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor, they did not occur on a set, regular schedule. The visits that did take place, took place at the County offices and were only approximately one hour in duration and usually no more than twice a week, although some weeks there was only one visit. By early September, for all intents and purposes, the visits had ceased, because Sabrina had exhibited increasing signs of distress. At a follow-up hearing on October 25, the Court ordered that a home visit occur. That visit occurred three days later, on October 28, after which both sides submitted to the Court memoranda summarizing the visit. On November 14, the Court issued a letter ordering that visits continue to occur in the parents%u2019 home. One such additional visit occurred, on November 23, approximately a month after the previous in-home visit. Those two visits are the only visits Ms. Hey had been able to participate in since late August/early September. Mr. Slitor, whom the County wanted to evaluate as the potential primary caretaker since Ms. Hey had been ruled out by the County as such, did have several short visits on his own in October and one in December. (It should be noted that Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor got married in October.) At a follow-up hearing in late November, the Court ordered both sides to submit a plan for facilitating the goal of return home, which both sides did. In mid-December, the Court informed both sides that it had accepted the plan submitted on behalf of Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor, which contemplated regular, frequent visits with increasing duration accompanied by instruction from a qualified home-based services provider. The Court ordered that all visitation cease until the new reunification process could begin with the new service providers. The Court also ordered that Ms. Hey and Mr. Slitor be financially responsible for the services to be provided. Starting in January, that plan was implemented and the reunification process got underway. Initially, the service providers familiarized themselves with Sabrina and Sabrina with them. They then slowly and carefully reintroduced the parents to Sabrina in an effort to properly restart the attachment process. The visits occurred on a set schedule (3 days a week) in the parents%u2019 home and, as time went on, the duration of the visits steadily increased. During these visits, the parents received parenting instruction and once a week they participated in a parent-infant therapy session. The amount of instruction provided by the home-based workers decreased as time went on. This process continued until approximately June 15, by whic...

Jeff and Blaine was tragically killed while working on a semi on I-69 on July 11,2013 by a truck driver whom several calls where made do to his erratic driving. It has been 6 months now and nothing has been done to our knowledge , the driver Randy Withrow is walking around free . We the family,loved ones ,friends would like to know where we stand and why this is taking so long , we where told to file a civil suit and now it seems like the criminal case has been put on the back burner. We need some kind of information that makes since to us because this does not . We have lost a father, a son, a brother, and loved ones and friends that can never be replaced as many of us are grieving and await the answers. We LOVE AND MISS THEM WITH ALL OF OUR HEARTS OUR LIVES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME. Jeff would have been 20 Oct.2013 family spent his birthday at cemetery , also spent Thanksgiving and Christmas there instead of home with these loved ones , when will something be done.

Congress has 9 days scheduled before the Sep. 30 budget deadline to avoid a government shutdown. But some Republicans won't even negotiate unless Obamacare is defunded — and they're using the deadline to gain leverage. We need Rep. Rodney Davis to prioritize expanding the middle class during the budget debate. Unless we act quickly, he may join with Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan and support more cuts to education, healthcare, and other vital services.

South Carolina Office for Minority Affairs took one year and five months to vote on our petition. To date The Wassamasaw Indian Nation have not received written notification of an unfavorable recommendation from the State Recognition Committee. S.C. Code Section 1-31-4-(A)(10) State Recognition of Native American Indian Entities states: Whenever an entity receives an unfavorable recommendation from the State Recognition Committee, the entity will be notified by mail within five business days from the date of notification to the Board of the Commission. This notification will include the reason the unfavorable recommendation was given. The entity shall have ten business days from receipt of the notification letter to submit an appeal asking for reversal of that decision. The appeal must state clearly the reasons that the entity believes that the decision should be reversed. The Commission for Minority Affairs must receive the appeal in writing. Entities are barred from submitting new information, updated information, additional exhibits, charts, and/or any additional documentation that was not part of the original petition and considered by members of the State Recognition Committee.

On Aug 29th Edrinna Bryant was found guilty of Second degree Murder, but in the event of self-defense with her late boyfriend Lavell Hardy. Edrinna is a very compassionate person at hand, she has a 7 year old son that means more than the world to her. She loves her son unconditionally and does everything in her power to make a way for him, even to the extent of working two jobs. We all watched Edrinna grow up to become a considerate, amicable, calm, relaxed, affectionate, sincere, versatile, sympathetic, sensible, reserved, smart, loving, thoughtful, sociable, understanding, and warmhearted woman. We don't want to see her lose time within her life away from her growing son, at which she's all he has. Her son has already lost one parent and it hurts us tremendously, yet it has the possibly of destroying and traumatizing him. We all know with no doubt that she's excessively hurt and sorry for the unintended consequences that occurred while protecting herself.

Our government recognizes 13 wars in its history and countless conflicts around the globe. More than 100 million men and women have served in the military to defend the liberty and independence we have today. VeteransPlus created www.YellowRibbonMonth.org in hopes of giving Americans a virtual place to say thank you to military and Veteran families. VeteransPlus and many grateful Americans believe that the entire month of November should be dedicated to commemorate and honor Servicemembers, Veterans, and Families of the Fallen, especially the 25+ million Veterans living today.

Preventing people from either getting killed or any accidents from falling into any lakes, creeks, or rivers. Shut them down adding more rangers within the area. Also put signs on every pole that are there. this is the time we should put them up and make them bigger as well

I, Brooke Fitzgerald, would be personally willing to debate the changing of the dress code both as a fundraiser for the Twin Falls High School Speech and Debate team and because it is an issue that I am deeply passionate about. If Mr. Dickinson of the District or Mr. Allen of TFHS would like to contact me, my email is [email protected]. We the students, parents, and concerned members of Twin Falls School District wish for the new dress code policy to be changed from just above the knee to fingertip length because the rule was illogically created, it disenfranchises female and low-income students, and because the discipline committee's perception of "appropriateness" does not correspond with the perception of the general public. My name is Brooke Fitzgerald and I am a senior at Twin Falls High School. Upon doing my research on the dress code change, I found that the main reason mentioned by the administration for implementing the more stringent dress code was that the previous "mid-thigh" rule was too hard to enforce. Ease of administration is not a reason to force female students to abandon their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and equal treatment, as this rule inherently targets female students. The second reason behind the dress code change is increased professionalism. This is also nonsensical because a professional environment will not exist unless uniforms of suits and slacks are instated, which will elicit much more protest. Furthermore, I suspect that professionalism is not the main motivation for the change. When Brady Dickinson (Director of Operations for the Twin Falls School District) was interviewed by Brian Smith in the Times News, he mentioned nothing about "professionalism" as a rationale for the change. The fact that the majority of Twin Falls High School in particular lacks air-conditioning means that students (including myself) are faced with the choice between purchasing new clothes that they're uncomfortable in and wearing jeans, increasing their body temperature and decreasing their attention. This is a problem directed solely at female students, as the majority of skirts and shorts manufactured for women are at the fingertip or mid-thigh length. Many times it is not a matter of choice of style, but availability of style. Forcing students to comply with this nonsensical rule further disenfranchises female and low-income students, for no real reason other than the ambiguity of the term "mid-thigh". However, this is not only a student problem. The increased regulation and enforcement of the dress code has angered many parents, as they are forced to leave work or go out of their way to provide their children with clothes that are deemed as "appropriate," not by their parental judgement, but by a discipline committee that all but a select few of parents do not have input with. For these reasons and more, the dress code needs to be changed.

The MaineCare Transportation Contract with CTS has proven that working with an out of state broker,specifically CTS is a failed experiment that has greatly effected the quality of healthcare for MaineCare and Medicaid recipients. In the Department's own words, "The launch has not gone as planned and there have been widespread problems. Rides have been missed, people have not been able to reach the broker due to high call volume and some rides have been delivered inappropriately.The performance to date has been unacceptable and we are doing all that we can to hold the brokers accountable." This has effected the quality of care, the ability for providers to earn a living and deliver services and the revenue streams of agency. It has placed great burdens on those already dealing with difficult situations and will only serve to increase emergency room care, raise healthcare costs and limit access to healthcare for our most vulnerable populations.

i am concerned that what seems like a simple surgical strike in Syria could have huge consequences, especially if Russia escalates or raises the stakes.

To prevent Congressmen for profiting from connections in office while they are serving constituents, thus preventing them from benefitting from special interest groups.