Ava, 13, loves rainbows, cartoons and her dog Cassius.
鈥淚 like the lion because it has a rainbow and I like rainbow,鈥� she said, pointing to a painting she鈥檇 made.
But a huge hole on a broken door to her room hints at the traumatic reality for Ava and her family.
Caregivers, like Shannon Burke, haven鈥檛 stayed long. When Ava broke a mirror one day, 鈥渟he did end up taking one of the pieces of glass and chasing me around the house with it,鈥� Burke said.
Ava鈥檚 鈥減ulled the hair out of my scalp to the point where I鈥檓 bleeding because she wanted to leave the spoon inside of the microwave and I had to explain to her that she couldn鈥檛 do it,鈥� said Ava鈥檚 sister Sophia.
Single mom Nancy Camp, who adopted Ava as a baby, said she was diagnosed with as a toddler and then with an .
Camp, of Stamford, is struggling to get her daughter the care she needs to survive, and perhaps even thrive. Camp says Ava is not safe at home. A hospital says she can鈥檛 stay there forever. And alternate schools say she鈥檚 too aggressive to be enrolled.
Kids with autism and other disabilities are falling through the gaps in 黑料吃瓜网 schools, civil rights attorneys say. In severe cases, they鈥檙e removed from traditional public schools and then from district-funded special education programs. What happens next is uncertain.
For Ava, things came to a head last fall when she wanted another dog. Camp said no. The teen 鈥� nearly six-feet-tall 鈥� had a meltdown so bad that Camp called the police.
It鈥檚 not the first time she鈥檚 turned to them for help.
鈥淎nd they usually have to dose her right there because she鈥檚 so aggressive,鈥� Camp said. 鈥淚 mean, they have to sadly tie her hands down, tie her legs down.鈥�
Ava ended up at Stamford Hospital, and then , a pediatric psychiatric hospital run by the (DCF) for children under the age of 18, with severe mental illness.
Camp said her private insurance paid for treatment and she said after about two weeks, Solnit told her that Ava was going to be discharged. Camp refused to pick her up; she didn鈥檛 feel it was safe.
The facility eventually cared for Ava for about five months.
Transitions like these are tough for children on the autism spectrum, said Dr. Pamela Hoffman, a psychiatrist at the Yale Child Study Center.
鈥淚 had a patient in my emergency room who was unfortunately stuck in the ER for almost a month, while the discussion was going on with the school, with the family, with the state, on how do we get the child into the appropriate level of care that they need,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd it would be wonderful if that planning is done in the time that the child needs it.鈥�
Advocates like , attorney and director of the Youth Justice Project at the Center for Children鈥檚 Advocacy, say there are hundreds of kids in 黑料吃瓜网 pushed out from what鈥檚 called approved private special education schools.
鈥淭he vast majority of these children are children of color, and children with disabilities," Halm said.
Children like Ava, who is Black.
Ava鈥檚 case is not unique, said , deputy commissioner of operations at DCF.
鈥淭his case is one of many with the similar fact patterns that we see on a daily basis,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he challenge becomes when they get better, what鈥檚 next? And as a system we struggle and we grapple with that. They can鈥檛 live in an institution.鈥�
Camp alleged that after those five months, Ava was sent home without a plan from Solnit or the . The alternate school she鈥檇 been in, which the district paid for, disenrolled her when Ava was attending a DCF-run school inside Solnit.
Camp believes Ava could have avoided all of it 鈥� the hospitalization, the gap in her schooling 鈥� had the district paid for a residential therapeutic school with structured daily routines for children with autism. Ava was accepted by two schools last year, Camp said, but the district would not pay.
In order to talk about Ava鈥檚 case, the Stamford school system required a waiver from Camp, obtained and sent by 黑料吃瓜网. The district has not responded to specific questions about Ava.
But , associate superintendent for Intervention and Student Support at Stamford Public Schools, said in a statement: 鈥淭here is no legal requirement that a student with a disability be placed in the program favored by the student鈥檚 family, only that the student be placed in a program that meets their educational needs as outlined in their individualized education plan and as determined by the (笔笔罢).鈥�
Camp said a PPT was not held when Ava was at Solnit.
黑料吃瓜网 first contacted the district in February to find out its plans for Ava. In March, Camp said the district offered to send Ava to a therapeutic residential program at a facility called 鈥� she said it鈥檚 the first ever residential school Ava will be attending.
Camp emphasized that the delay in getting her there is a huge setback to Ava.
Civil rights attorneys like Ava鈥檚 lawyer, , say there are hundreds of children struggling through the system.
Paul represented , 14, who was suspended from the Norwalk Alternative Opportunities Program in the middle of the day for breaking a bathroom rule 鈥� no more than one student was allowed at a time. Daniel was there first, he said, and he took a video of the alleged verbal abuse by staff.
鈥淭ake your crap at home. Oh my god. Both of you go home,鈥� a staff member is heard saying.
The school districts are reimbursed by the state for sending children like Ava and Daniel to approved private special education programs, Paul said. But the programs lack transparency, Halm added.
鈥淭he concerns Ava鈥檚 case raises about these schools are very valid, which is one of the reasons we鈥檝e been pushing the state to do some sort of report that can provide a picture of who are those students in these schools?鈥� Halm said. 鈥淲hat is the performance level in these schools? What is the suspension rate? What is the graduation rate?鈥�
Back at her home, Camp knows that things can change in a blink.
鈥淗er zero to 60, as I tell everybody, is deadly,鈥� she said. 鈥淗er zero to 60 is deadly.鈥�
And Paul, Ava鈥檚 attorney, says Adelbrook may well be yet another series of transitions.
鈥淚n Ava鈥檚 case, they鈥檙e saying that once her behaviors are more stable, she will be returned back into the community,鈥� she said.
Ava looks at messages on a white board reminding her to stay calm. She鈥檚 waiting to go back to school, and misses 鈥渕y friends, they鈥檙e very nice.鈥�
Soon, she鈥檒l have to start over, once again.
