VOR's Legislative Initiative has been in full swing over the last week, and our meetings with people in congressional offices are likely to continue through next week and beyond. One theme that has come up over and over has been the idea that the Administration and members of Congress plan to make major changes, many would say long overdue changes, to the system that deals with services, supports, and employment opportunities for people with I/DD, and that we don't want our loved ones, and our choices for their care, to be swept aside in this effort to do good things.

We worry that the effort to rebuild the system is aimed at only supporting one ideology, the "everybody does better in the community" ideal, or the notion that HCBS services provide a level of care equal to that of Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs). We know, from our own experience, that neither of these statements are true.

So we ask that our choices be supported in this effort to do good. The Biden Administration speaks about building back better. We'd like to take it one step further: Let's Build It Right, this time. Stop pitting the interests of one group of people with I/DD against the interests of another. Stop talking about a non-existent "institutional bias" while you are closing institutions and increasing funding for HCBS.

We support the idea of taking people off of waiting lists. But give them CHOICE. Support all options, and give people the opportunity to use whichever option best suits their needs, at this point in their lives. And if and when their needs change, let them then choose an appropriate option to meet their needs at that point in their lives. Just like our society does with non-disabled individuals.

The first two articles in this week's newsletter exemplify what we encounter daily. The Biden Administration, through the American Rescue Plan as passed by Congress, is giving states flexibility to expand disability services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the money is only supposed to go to HCBS services. People in ICFs got COVID, too. The staff of ICFs got COVID, too. Why is the Federal Government only giving extra money to the recipients of HCBS services and their staff?

Again, we see that 500 CEO's have committed to programs that advance inclusion for people with disabilities. That is certainly laudable. But why are people still trying to shut down opportunities that people with I/DD currently enjoy, and thrive under, that do not fit the criteria of "integrated employment"?

Why are there no companies trying to create opportunities for people who have skills and the desire to work, but who are, for one reason or another, not candidates for succeeding in a competitive, integrated environment?

We ask that all people be included in the solutions, and that all options be funded. If there is going to be a $400 Billion increase in spending on disability services, shouldn't it be spent on the people who receive the services, and not divided according to the different ideologies or separate funding streams that have turned our systems into a them vs us system?

Let's build it right this time. Let's provide funds to meet the needs and aspirations of all individuals with I/DD, and let's make sure we fund all of the options that meet the needs of this diverse community.

3:00 pm Eastern, 2:00 pm Central, 1:00 pm Mountain, Noon Pacific

By Michelle Diament, Disability Scoop, May 17, 2021

States are being given wide latitude to spend an extra $12.67 billion for Medicaid home and community-based services on everything from getting people off waiting lists to raising pay for direct support professionals.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued long-awaited guidance late last week outlining how states can use the funds that were part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, a COVID-19 relief package approved in March.

The legislation included a boost to home and community-based services in the form of a 10% rise in the federal government’s share of spending on the program between April 2021 and March 2022. But even though the extra dollars were supposed to start flowing last month, states have been waiting for CMS to clarify how the money could be used before spending any of it.

The new guidance gives states flexibility to use the money to “enhance, expand or strengthen HCBS services,” said Rachel Pryor, counselor to the secretary for health policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She said the list of possibilities is “really broad.”

By Shaun Heasley, Disability Scoop, May 19, 2021

The chief executives of Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Sony and hundreds of other international organizations are committing to advance disability inclusion.

The companies are part of a group known as The Valuable 500 that first formed at the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland in an effort to improve life for people with disabilities.

Now, the collaborative says it has reached its goal of signing on 500 members, which collectively represent over $8 trillion in annual revenue and more than 20 million employees globally.

A yearlong investigation led by APM Reports finds the company took in some of the most difficult-to-treat children while keeping costs low in pursuit of profit and expansion. The result was dozens of cases of physical violence, sexual assault and improper restraints. Despite repeated scandals, many states and counties continue to send kids to Sequel for one central reason: They have little choice.

Chris Hagman walked by the building almost every day for years with his dogs. It was a large, stately, pre-war structure with brick walls and white columns. To Hagman, it seemed like a nice place, a benefit to the historic Wichita, Kansas, neighborhood where he lived and worked as a middle school science teacher.  

Hagman didn’t know much about what happened inside, only that the place had once been a hospital for unwed mothers and, more recently, a youth treatment center called Riverside Academy. 

After the academy quietly closed last spring, the building became a nuisance in the neighborhood. People were breaking into it, sleeping there and using drugs. Hagman decided to look more closely and maybe complain to the new property owner. 

As he walked up to the building, Hagman saw spray paint on the walls. When he got closer, he realized this wasn’t typical graffiti on an abandoned building. This was something different. “Pray 4 victims,” one message read. “We want justice.” 

Next to an entrance, he saw another scrawl: “We need to talk about Riverside.” The door was unlocked, so he walked inside. 

There, the spray-painted messages were more explicit: “Youth were abused here,” read the graffiti on one wall, “systematically.” Hagman grew alarmed as he photographed the messages.

“They weren't put where they were put by coincidence,” Hagman concluded. “Whoever had written these things on the walls, they purposely wanted these words to be seen and heard.”

In fact, something had happened at Riverside Academy. Kids had been mistreated there. In the four years before it closed, the facility had been cited 38 times by Kansas officials for problems including excessive force by staff, poor supervision, under-qualified medical personnel, neglect and bullying by residents, according to state licensing records. One investigation in 2018 concluded that the staff’s indifference toward a child in pain was “frightening.”

In spite of all that, the state of Kansas didn’t shut the place down. It closed voluntarily. But what happened at Riverside wasn’t an aberration.   

Riverside Academy was run by a for-profit company named Sequel Youth & Family Services, which operates 29 residential treatment centers in 15 states for kids with behavioral problems. It also operates clinics, outpatient programs, group homes and day schools. 

A yearlong investigation led by APM Reports reveals a company founded on noble ideals that, in the past two decades, has pursued profit and expansion by housing traumatized kids while trying to keep expenses low.  

The company’s model was, as one former employee put it, “a recipe for destruction”: inexperienced, low-paid staff charged with caring for some of the most vulnerable and difficult-to-treat children in the country. And it resulted in dozens of cases of abuse and neglect, including physical violence, sexual assault, filthy conditions, and improper restraints that led to numerous injuries and one death.

By Scott Thistle, Portland Press Herald, May 17, 2020

A bill that would prohibit schools in Maine from using restraints and seclusion rooms for students with behavioral disabilities came under fire Monday at a State House news conference.Parents of children with behavioral disabilities, special education teachers, administrators, behavioral specialists and others urged lawmakers to retain Maine Department of Education rules that allow schools to temporarily restrain and seclude students when they become a danger to themselves or others.

They said restraint and seclusion are necessary tools for teachers when a student becomes unmanageable and poses risks to themselves or others.

Wendy Perkins of Auburn said her non-verbal, autistic daughter will no longer be able to attend school in Maine if seclusion is no longer an option.

“She’s aggressive, she’s self-injurious, she’s mean but she’s the love of everyone at that school, everybody knows her, everybody loves to work with her but she needs that seclusion,” Perkins said.

“Taking that away takes away her ability to calm down. Takes away her ability to self-regulate. That seclusion gives her time to de-escalate and reregulate herself so she can come back out and be herself.”

Dr. Michelle Hathaway, director of the nonprofit Margaret Murphy Center for Children, said seclusion and restraint are necessary and effective tools for dealing with some of the most difficult child behaviors. She said the bill would prevent staff from keeping students safe and put staff at risk.

VOR OPPOSES:

H.R. 603 & S. 53 - The Raise the Wage Act - These bills are aimed at raising the minimum wage, but they also have provisions to phase out and ultimately eliminate vocational centers and 14 (c) wage certificates over the next six years and to immediately stop the issuing of any new certificates. VOR believes the issue of employment options for individuals with intellectual disabilities should not be buried in a bill for raising the federal minimum wage. Both issues deserve clean, stand-alone bills.

H.R.1880 - To amend the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to make permanent the Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration.

H.R. 2383 - This is the new version of the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act - It purports to assist employers providing employment under special certificates issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in transforming their business and program models to models that support individuals with disabilities through competitive integrated employment, to phase out the use of such special certificates, and for other purposes

VOR takes no position on whether or not the minimum wage should be raised to $15 per hour, or some other amount. We do, however, oppose any bills (see H.R. 603 & S. 53, above) that would remove vocational centers and 14(c) wage certificates.

For those who do support raising the minimum wage, there are currently two "clean" bills in the House that would raise the minimum wage without taking opportunities to work in a therapeutic environment through the use of 14(c) certificates. Those bills are H.R. 112, from Rep. Al Green (D-TX) and H.R. 325, from Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN)

Contact us at [email protected]