The National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities, at Massachusetts' Brandeis University, is the only one of its kind in the US.Josh Reynolds/AP
Researchers and staff involved with Brandeis University’s National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities have learned that they will not be able to soon apply for continued federal funding, likely forcing the center’s operations to stop when current funding runs out at the end of August.
Working across roughly a decade, the center has investigated laws that allow states to strip parents of custody based on disability and health disparities faced by disabled parents, and provides assistance to disabled parents who reach out for support. It is the only research center in the US focused on disabled parents.
Without further funding, “there’s going to be no national infrastructure dedicated” to those issues that offers evidence-based solutions to parties including judges in the child welfare system, healthcare providers, and disabled parents themselves, said principal investigator Monika Mitra.
Last week, the grant through which the center is funded was removed from the federal grant portal Grants.gov. The grant is one of 36 awards, together worth more than $6.5 million, from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research that were expected to be made available but removed from the federal database so far this year. Mitra was told by an inside contact at NIDILRR that the grant would not be reposted.
“The parenting center’s absence would leave a gaping hole of critical support,” said Heather Watkins, a disabled parent who sits on the research center’s board.
In May, the White House Office of Management and Budget, led by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought, released a proposal that, if finalized, would have the federal government arbitrarily terminate grants and involve political appointees more deeply in the grantmaking process. The Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment, referring me to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Mia Ives-Rublee, the disability justice initiative senior director at the Center for American Progress, said that the “absolutely essential” center’s funding cutoff represents part of a “continual attack on the disability community.”
Nicole Lomerson, now a research associate at the center, used its public resources after her parenting was called into question due to her cerebral palsy when her infant was in neonatal intensive care.
Now, as part of the center’s work, Lomerson responds to disabled parents seeking support with regard to the child welfare system.
“We were really hoping to expand our technical assistance efforts to parents,” Lomerson said. “We were thinking about novel ways to provide support that was meaningful, that was delivered by peers.”
Mitra said she was stunned to find the center wasn’t able to apply for further funding under a grant she’d expected to be available. “It is a profound setback for disability rights and family equity,” she said.
