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Current Projects

 Federal Legislative Advocacy

End the Criminalization of Disability Meltdowns

The Focus: Bridging the massive gap between current constitutional jurisprudence and human rights by restructuring law enforcement intervention protocols for neurodivergent youth.

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Key Objective: Pass the Protecting Exceptional Children from Unjust Arrests Act, legally mandating that state and local law enforcement transition control of active crises to mobile behavioral health crisis teams in lieu of criminal arrest or physical detention.

Legislative Advocacy: The Military Health Care Accountability and Parity Act of 2026

  • Statutory Market Parity: Drafted comprehensive model legislation amending Title 10, U.S.C. § 1079 to eliminate TRICARE’s legacy "grandfathered" exemptions under ACA Section 1251.

  • Enforceable Consumer Protections: Mandates that the Defense Health Agency (DHA) comply with federal health market reform standards, including Non-Quantitative Treatment Limitation (NQTL) parity, external independent appeals, and essential health benefit protections.

  • Protecting Physician Authority: Statutorily prohibits arbitrary, non-clinical setting exclusions (e.g., public schools, community settings, and telehealth) and aligns coverage with established clinical consensus (such as NASEM and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria).

  • Normalizing Long-Term Care: Automatically sunsets perpetual "demonstration" status for programs operating over five consecutive years, permanently integrating them into TRICARE Basic.

Systemic Policy Reform

The Safeguarding Neurodivergent Youth across Systems (SNYS) Act

The Focus: A comprehensive, multi-sector federal omnibus framework engineered to eliminate systemic abuse, corporal punishment, and exploitation across schools, clinics, residential care facilities, and the foster care network.

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Key Objective: Modernize institutional safety standards across all federally funded childcare infrastructures, shifting the national standard from forced compliance to trauma-informed, autonomy-preserving care.

Provider Network Transparency & Multi-State Ghost Network Audits

  • Field Verification Audits: Conducting exhaustive, real-world directory audits across key military states (Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey) to document contractor directory inaccuracies.

  • Exposing Phantom Networks: Documenting duplicate entries, invalid contact details, non-applicable clinics, departed clinicians, and widespread provider refusal of TRICARE contracts.

  • NDAA Section 705 Implementation: Providing primary empirical evidence to Congressional committees and defense coalitions to mandate DHA Inspector General audits, establish enforceable contract accuracy benchmarks, and protect families from being relocated into care deserts.

TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration (ACD) Reform & Legislative Oversight
Status: Active

Status: Active | Major Legislative Milestone Achieved (June 2026)

The Focus: leading a targeted, data-driven initiative to reform systemic healthcare access gaps facing military dependents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Driven by our comprehensive policy research and cost-analysis models, this project focuses on restoring clinical integrity to the TRICARE network and protecting military families from arbitrary coverage limitations.

Following high-level briefings and a rigorous advocacy campaign coordinated by MFAG with key congressional offices, our core policy recommendations have been successfully integrated directly into the foundational baseline text of the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) under Military Personnel (MLP) Subcommittee Mark, Section 746. Moving a policy priority from an outside recommendation to baseline statutory text represents a massive structural victory, ensuring our objectives have maximum legislative weight as the defense bill moves toward final passage. Our ongoing work focuses on defending and auditing this critical statutory provision, which holds the Defense Health Agency (DHA) directly accountable to Congress.

SENTRY Act "Saylor's Law" 

The SENTRY Act (Saylor’s Law) is model state legislation developed by the Institute for Juvenile Justice and Behavioral Policy under Project SENTRY to protect elopement-prone neurodivergent children subject to child welfare oversight. Drafted in response to the tragic drowning of five-year-old Saylor Hayes, the act closes critical gaps in child protection and criminal law by:

  • Mandating Specialized Risk Audits: Requiring child welfare agencies to complete an objective Elopement and Environmental Hazard Assessment (EEHA) auditing proximity to water and physical perimeter security within 48 hours of an open case.

  • Enforcing Tracking Compliance: Establishing a legal presumption of child endangerment when a caregiver under child protective supervision intentionally removes, disables, or abandons an approved tracking device (such as Project Lifesaver).

  • Penalizing Search Deception: Imposing a Class E felony (up to 10 years' imprisonment) for fabricating a child's last-seen circumstances or intentionally directing search-and-rescue teams away from bodies of water and known hazards.

  • Bridging Evidence to Homicide by Child Abuse: Codifying that actively misleading search personnel or concealing tracking equipment serves as statutory evidence of "extreme indifference to human life" under S.C. Code § 16-3-85.

  • Requiring Travel Safety Plans: Mandating advance disclosure and emergency dispatch registration when families under state supervision travel near major environmental hazards.

© 2023 by The Institute for Juvenile Justice and Behavioral Policy. Advocating for youth rights.

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