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In the last month, our field has seen a number of communications going back and forth, starting with the New York Times newspaper article on March 13, 2011 about instances of disturbing abuse that took place in state-operated residences; in turn, this article was followed by a number of statements from OPWDD. Here we attempt to outline the most recent items for you.
In a March 26, 2011 editorial, the New York Times declared that the group home system of care for people with developmental disabilities must choose better employees, train them more, and aggressively investigate all instances of neglect and abuse, up to and including reporting crimes to police authorities. They used the expression that the group home system had "gone to rot." The editorial, unfortunately, made no distinctions between state-operated group homes and those run by private, not-for-profit providers.
On March 29, Acting Commissioner Courtney Burke issued a "Dear Families and Colleagues" email that acknowledged the media coverage and reaffirmed her commitment to the safety and welfare of people with disabilities as OPWDD's highest priority, promising future communications on proactive steps the agency will take, and offering a new email address established for the purpose of offering an additional communication resource to anyone who wants to send comments, concerns or ideas
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The same day, Sheila McBain, Deputy Commissioner, Division of Quality Management, issued a memo to Executive Directors of Voluntary Agencies regarding OPWDD's efforts to evaluate and strengthen incident management principles and practices across the state; she restated their commitment to respecting the dignity of each person in their care and their focused refresher training for all existing state staff (direct support, clinical, and supervisory) on those topics, plus leadership visits to all state operated homes. Her memo encourages voluntary providers to do the same, making leadership visits to programs and using the Abuse Prevention Refresher Training curriculum soon to be available on their website.
On March 30, 2011, another article by journalist Danny Hakim appeared in the New York Times entitled "Cuomo to Tighten Requirements for Workers in Homes for Disabled." The article reviews some of the steps that OPWDD will take to improve employee hiring practices and training, plus increase oversight of incidents, yet states that these actions are unlikely to satisfy parents and advocates who have witnessed widespread mismanagement and abuse. The article does include a reference to homes operated by "nonprofit service providers."
OPWDD has a Press Release from March 30 on its website describing specific measures announced by Acting Commissioner Burke regarding a new Incident Management Team, new hiring standards for direct support employees, refresher training on respect, dignity, and professional ethics as essential to prevention of abuse, a new disciplinary action review panel, and leadership visits to state-operated residences.
As new messages are shared with the field, NYSACRA will continue to report them to you.
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