October 17, 2025

VOR's Weekly News Update

VOR is a national non-profit organization

run by families of people with I/DD and autism

for families of people with I/DD and autism.

IT'S OCTOBER!

Cooler temperatures, crisp air, falling leaves, carving pumpkins, apple cider, flannel shirts, Trick or Treat, and

VOR's Annual Fall Fundraising Campaign!

This is the most important time of year for our fundraising.

Most of our membership renewals and donations

will come in the next three months.

So this is when we start gathering our nuts for the Winter.

It's Make-It-Or-Break-It Season for VOR.

Over the next two and a half months, we promise to send you a multitude of reasons to donate, to renew your membership, to make end-of-year tax deductions,

to Give us a Tuesday, remember our families during the holidays, share with you the joys and sorrows that bring us together for this important, important cause and to celebrate the good work we do together!

We will try to make our campaigns enjoyable, interesting, touching, and inspiring.

VOR's Fall / Winter Fundraising Campaign

Is Pleased to Announce:

Once again, we have partnered with See's Candies in our 2025 Year-End Fundraising Campaign.

The idea is not to replace our regular appeal for donations and new memberships.

We still want you to donate as always.

But we'd like to enhance our campaign by offering See's Candies to our supporters who wish to give gifts to family and friends over the holidays.

See's has agreed to give us a share of the profits for each box sold.

Can't think of the right thing to send to Aunt Millie this year?

Need a little something to bring to Thanksgiving dinner?

Maybe some Peanut Brittle to share at Hanukkah?

How about bringing a

Nice Big Box of Chocolates to the Wonderful DSPs

for the care and kindness

they provide throughout the year?

You can start ordering now.

Candy will begin shipping on November 10, 2025

The last day to order is December 5, 2025

or use this QR Code with your phone's camera

VOR Podcasts!

Hosted by Casey Henry and Brenna Redfearn

on our YouTube page!

Please Share Your Personal Stories!

VOR is about families. Families like yours. Families like mine.

Every family's story is unique.

And every one of our families have shared paths, hopes, challenges, moments of doubt, and moments of joy.

Personal stories are the lifeblood of advocacy.

We would like to invite our readers to share their stories with us, that we may share them with our community.

Many of our Board members and long-time members have shared their stories several times over the years. We would like to hear from people who haven't spoken. In the next few months, we hope to share your stories in different formats, from our print newsletter The VOR Voice to our annual fundraising appeals.

To share your story with us, please send an email to hdwyervor@gmail.com

This week, the Education Department laid off most of its Special Education staff in what is called a "Reduction in Force" (RIF). On Thursday, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked the RIF, but it remains to be seen if the temporary order will hold. Below are articles describing the RIF and the case to prevent the Education Department from dismissing its Special Education personnel.

Ed Department Lays Off Nearly All Special Education Staff

By Michelle Diament, Disability Scoop, October 14, 2025

Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education will leave no more than a handful of staffers in the agency’s special education office, jeopardizing oversight of the nation’s programs for students with disabilities, advocates say.

The Trump administration is following through on a White House pledge to lay off federal workers as the government shutdown drags on.

While officials at the Education Department are mum on the changes, court documents show that about 466 employees at the agency are affected by the reduction in force, or RIF, and disability advocates said they suspect that the figure is an undercount.

“These firings have decimated key offices — including the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE),” said Stephanie Smith Lee, co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress, who served as director of the Education Department’s Office of Special Education Programs under President George W. Bush. “Together, these offices implement federal laws that are critically important to babies and toddlers, students with disabilities in K-12 and those transitioning to postsecondary education and work.”

Lee said the Office of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitation Services Administration — which is responsible for vocational rehabilitation — could be left with just one staffer apiece. In an alert sent to its members, the National Down Syndrome Congress characterized the situation as a “five-alarm fire” and urged people to contact the White House and their representatives in Congress.

The Education Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the layoffs and advocates said that many employees are still awaiting official notice because they do not have access to a government computer. The jobs are expected to be eliminated in 60 days.

The staffers who are being let go were responsible for administering funding and overseeing implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other laws.

“There is no way they can abide by the statutory requirements set out by Congress in IDEA 50 years ago by laying off nearly all of the staff at the department that support our community,” said Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Continued

Ed Department Blocked From Laying Off Special Education Staff

By Michelle Diament, Disability Scoop, October 16, 2025

A federal judge temporarily halted a U.S. Department of Education plan to gut its special education office, but advocates say that the future of services for students with disabilities remains uncertain.

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the so-called reductions in force, or RIFs, at the Education Department and several other federal agencies on Wednesday. Unions representing many affected workers sued, prompting Illston’s ruling.

The move comes less than a week after the Education Department let approximately 466 employees go, following through on President Donald Trump’s pledge to lay off federal workers amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Chad Rummel, executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, said he was happy to hear that the layoffs were blocked, but noted that the operative word is “temporary.”

“There are lots of opportunities for this still to move forward and erode the work of IDEA. Until we see special education staff back in place at OSEP, teachers and parents of children with disabilities should be concerned,” he said.

If the layoffs are allowed to proceed, disability advocates noted that IDEA remains in place. But without manpower in the Education Department to ensure that states meet their obligations under the law, it’s unclear what that would mean in practice. 

For now, the federal government disbursed IDEA funding Oct. 1, so barring any issue with the system states use to draw down funds, money should be available, according to Audrey Levorse, deputy executive director at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.

“The question really becomes what does funding look like down the road? How will funds be disbursed and distributed in the future? Who will monitor expenditures to ensure federal requirements are being met? We just don’t have the answers to these questions yet,” she said.

In her first comments about the layoffs, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement on social media Wednesday that the shutdown “confirms” that the “federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states.”

Read the full article here

For those seeking more information about the cuts at the Department of Education, please click following links:

Special education staff decimated after Trump administration shutdown firings - "Who the heck is going to administer this program?"

By Arthur Jones II, ABC News, October 11, 2025

Please click here

RIFs rip through federal Office of Special Ed Programs  

By Kara Arundel, K-12 Dive, October 12, 2025     

Please click here

Education Department guts Special Ed office as part of shutdown layoffs

By Samantha-Jo Roth, The Washington Examiner, October 12, 2025

Please click here

Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement

By Collin Binkley, The Associated Press, via KSTP News, October 13, 2025

Please click here

Previous Medicaid coverage losses related to ‘unwinding’ shed light on what to expect from future cuts

By Jay Lau, Harvard School of Public Health, October 16, 2025

Medicaid “unwinding” in 2023—the process of ending federal restrictions on kicking people out of the public health insurance program during the pandemic—created administrative hurdles for individuals that could have contributed to 25 million people losing coverage. Now, other changes to Medicaid under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) could lead to millions more losing coverage, according to experts at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Under the OBBBA, Medicaid recipients across the nation will be required to document proof of employment—or reasons that they should be exempted from work—starting in January 2027.

“Policy debates regarding Medicaid rarely focus on the technicalities of how people get coverage and stay enrolled. Yet, these administrative processes are central to recent changes to Medicaid under OBBBA and, in fact, underpin the expected coverage losses responsible for the law’s projected savings,” wrote Adrianna McIntyre, assistant professor of health policy and politics, research assistant Jinwoo Kim, and Benjamin Sommers, Huntley Quelch Professor of Health Care Economics, in a Sept 4. JAMA Health Forum article. The article noted that, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, the OBBBA could lead to a reduction of about 10 million people from Medicaid by 2030, with 7.6 million projected to become uninsured.

McIntyre and Sommers—along with former research assistant Molly Morein, Kim, and Jose Figueroa, associate professor of health policy and management—also co-authored an Oct. 10 study in JAMA Health Forum that showed how Medicaid enrollment losses during unwinding varied substantially across states and demographic groups. The authors suggested that such variation “may inform expectations about pending Medicaid reforms.”

Sommers was also quoted in recent media articles about lessons that can be learned from the negative impacts of Medicaid work requirements in Georgia.

In a Sept. 29 NBC News story, Sommers said that Georgia’s work requirement—put in place at the same time the state expanded Medicaid in 2023—created paperwork challenges that prevented people from getting coverage who might have otherwise qualified. “Instead of taking Medicaid away or denying it to someone … because they’re having trouble checking all the right boxes, we ought to be using coverage as a way of helping people get healthy and improve themselves,” Sommers told NBC.

“There’s a real fear that what we saw in Georgia is going to be the same that plays out nationally,” he added.

Continued

Wyden, Warren, Sanders, Warnock Probe Medicaid Contractors on Faulty Eligibility and Enrollment Systems

Republican Budget Bill Provides a Windfall to Firms That Create Medicaid Systems; Major Contractors

United States Senate Committee on Finance, October 10, 2025

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Finance Committee Members Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Raphael G. Warnock, D-Ga., launched an inquiry into four of the largest contractors that build state Medicaid eligibility, enrollment, and information management systems across the country, as reports continue to emerge that these systems are plagued with errors, and the stakes are even higher now that the Republican budget bill mandates the creation of even more enrollment checks and verification systems for every state.

“We write out of concern that thousands of eligible Medicaid beneficiaries are erroneously denied coverage each year due to eligibility systems plagued by errors,” the members wrote. “H.R. 1 includes the largest cuts in Medicaid’s history and adds new red tape requirements by requiring states to condition Medicaid eligibility on individuals proving work. The addition of paperwork hurdles, layered onto problematic eligibility systems, will cause Americans to lose Medicaid coverage to this bureaucratic maze.”

The letter, sent to Conduent, Deloitte, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) and Gainwell Technologies, asks the companies to detail their contracted payment structures, the documentation individuals are required to provide for Medicaid eligibility through their systems, any penalties that states may levy for wrongful terminations, their ability to update systems following the identification of errors, and more data and information related to the companies’ performance in administering these systems across the country.

The letter comes as the Republican budget bill creates new red tape requirements that every state must stand up before the end of next year to verify that enrollees engage in certain so-called “community engagement” activities, like employment, community service, a job search or training program, or education for 80 hours per month. Previous attempts by states to implement similar so-called “work requirement” programs have resulted in significant coverage losses, low enrollment, and had no impact on employment rates, at a significant cost to taxpayers.

Continued

Democratic Governors Form a Public Health Alliance in Rebuke of Trump Administration

By The Associated Press, via MedPage Today, October 15, 202

A group of Democratic state governors has launched a new alliance aimed at coordinating their public health efforts.

They're framing it as a way to share data, messages about threats, emergency preparedness, and public health policy -- and as a rebuke to President Donald Trump's administration, which they say isn't doing its job in public health.

"At a time when the federal government is telling the states, 'you're on your own,' governors are banding together," Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement.

The formation of the group touches off a new chapter in a partisan battle over public health measures that has been heightened by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s advisers declining to recommend COVID-19 vaccinations, instead leaving the choice to the individual.

Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson, said in an email that Democratic governors who imposed school closures and mask mandates, including for toddlers, at the height of the pandemic, are the ones who "destroyed public trust in public health."

"The Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy are rebuilding that trust by grounding every policy in rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science -- not the failed politics of the pandemic," Nixon said.

Continued

North Carolina - Medicaid covers her daughter's vital care. The state's provider rate cuts now threaten it

By Jacob Biba, Asheville Citizen Times, October 16, 2025

Jacqueline Glover communicates with her eyes. Her grandfather sees it. And so does her mother.

When the two make the three-hour drive east from Rosman, in Transylvania County, to the Forsyth County care facility where Jacqueline lives, it’s really like that old saying, “the eyes are the windows to the soul,” her grandfather, David Glover, said. When he sees her, Jacqueline’s eyes tell her story.

Jacqueline, 24, has Dravet syndrome, a severe and rare type of epilepsy marked by prolonged seizures and increased risk of sudden death. There’s no cure, but medications help manage seizures, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Jacqueline, who also has cerebral palsy and severe autism, requires around-the-clock care and uses a wheelchair, her mother, Janessa Glover, said. Medicaid covers the costs.

For eight years Jacqueline has lived at an intermediate care facility run by Horizons, a nonprofit in Rural Hall. Before that, she was at home in Transylvania County with Janessa, who served as her full-time caregiver for 16 years.

At Horizons, Jacqueline thrives, her mother said. Staff take her to coffee shops and on other outings. It’s an inclusive environment where staff are trained to respond to Jacqueline’s needs, keep her safe and provide the vital care and attention she requires.

“We work really hard at Horizons to make sure our folks have every opportunity that their non-disabled neighbors have,” the organization’s CEO Richard Anderson told the Citizen Times in October.

Though her daughter is far from home, Janessa, 44, believes it’s the only way for Jacqueline to receive the quality of care she needs. If she has to be hospitalized, Horizons is close to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical system. Janessa said the facility can provide better care than residential group homes in Western North Carolina could. 

But she fears that level of care is at risk now that North Carolina slashed Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers, with intermediate care facilities like Horizons — whose residents are all covered under Medicaid — facing some of the steepest cuts.

If the state’s Republican-led General Assembly fails to fund the state’s Medicaid program by Nov. 1, and the reductions remain in effect, providers warn that they might have to limit services, lay off staff or even close, threatening care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

“It’s the cruelest thing the state of North Carolina has done since I’ve been in this business and I’ve been doing this for 39 years,” Anderson said of the rate cuts. “I’ve never seen us do anything that potentially is more cruel than this.”  

In August, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services warned lawmakers that if they failed to fully fund the state's Medicaid program, it would have to reduce reimbursement rates for providers beginning Oct. 1.

Citing a $319 million shortfall, Dr. Dev Sangvai, North Carolina's health secretary, wrote a letter to lawmakers outlining how the state health department would implement a minimum 3% rate reduction across all providers, with some services, like hospice care, long-term behavioral health care and nursing homes, facing even steeper cuts of up to 10%.

Intermediate care facilities like Horizons, which provides long-term support to up to 40 residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, were hit with an 8% cut.

The state health department said the cuts could be reversed if state lawmakers approve additional funding.

So far, they haven’t.

Continued

How Medicaid cuts are causing uncertainty for Arizona families who rely on caregiving programs

By Paola Rodriguez, AZPM, October 10, 2025

For the past 21 years, Brandy Foster’s life has centered around one person: her daughter, Alexa.

Alexa has autism and needs help with everyday tasks: getting dressed, taking a shower, preparing meals. For most of her life, Brandy and her husband have provided that care themselves. Brandy, who has muscular dystrophy, said caregiving was only further complicated by her own disability— leaving a physical and emotional toll.

That began to change six years ago, when the family met Anna Gonzalez.

“Anna just had the perfect mix of empathy and kindness but also firmness,” Brandy said. “She doesn’t let Alexa get away with things, and that’s been huge in helping her grow.”

Gonzalez is more than a caregiver. She’s become part of the family and her job is funded through Medicaid’s Home and Community Based Services program, or HCBS. It’s what allows Alexa to live at home, with the people who love her, instead of being placed in an institution.

But that care — and that connection — may not last.

Under President Donald Trump’s budget — a plan he has referred to as his “one big, beautiful bill” — there is a provision that allows states to expand HCBS for individuals who do not meet the institutional level-of-care requirements. But this change is set against a backdrop of significant Medicaid cuts that could hinder or even reverse HCBS expansion efforts. It is estimated that Medicaid funding would be reduced by more than $1 trillion over 10 years.

If HCBS loses federal funding, states like Arizona could be forced to reduce or eliminate services. That could mean the end of paid caregiving for families like the Fosters.

“If she loses that program, I don’t have a job. I won’t get to see her anymore,” Gonzalez said. “Alexa’s like the closest thing I have to having a child. I’d be childless.”

That bond goes both ways. When asked if she loves Gonzalez, Alexa responded using her communication device: “I love Anna.”

“What I’m doing matters to her,” Gonzalez said. “She trusts me. She knows I have her back.”

Jon Meyers, executive director of the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, said the impact of the proposed cuts could be devastating — especially in Arizona, which is considered a model for efficient, community-based disability services.

“But we don’t have the $2 billion it would take to replace that federal funding,” Meyers said. “We are going to see people with severe disabilities without any form of service, without support to meet the needs of daily life.”

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs fully funded the state’s Department of Developmental Disabilities for the current fiscal year, but Meyers said that does not guarantee protections beyond that.

“I foresee a very dark period ahead unless some changes are made to this legislation,” he said.

Continued

Idaho Medicaid cuts could force disability providers to close. The state wants to exempt services.

Advocates say the cuts could have reduced access to disability care providers in Idaho, which already has a shortage of direct care workers

By Kyle Pfannenstiel, The Idaho Capital Sun, October 13, 2025

In August, Jacque Poulsen’s business was in the red.

That’s partly because Medicaid doesn’t pay for all the work that the program requires.

Her personal care agency, ProHealth Professional HomeCare, serves people with disabilities across southern Idaho.

As she and other disability care providers warn that new cuts could push them over the edge, Idaho officials say the state is trying to carve out their services from Medicaid provider pay cuts.

Advocates say the cuts could have hampered access to disability care providers in Idaho — piling onto the state’s shortage of direct care workers, who work in relatively low-paid, demanding jobs that often require helping people with disabilities with day-to-day tasks. 

She said people wouldn’t work in the jobs for $14 an hour, when they could work for a fast food restaurant for more. 

But providers say they’re still in need of pay raises.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced 4% cuts to Medicaid provider reimbursement rates in late August. The move was in response to Gov. Brad Little’s order for mid-year budget cuts across state government to avoid a budget shortfall.

The Medicaid pay cuts are already in effect, sort of.

The state is paying providers the usual reimbursement rates. But once Idaho gets permission from the federal government, the state can claw back funds for the cuts.

Health and Welfare spokesperson Greg Stahl told the Idaho Capital Sun last week that the agency is asking the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to let the state exempt services for personal care and certified family homes from the cuts. 

“The requests held harmless personal care services and certified family homes from rate adjustments following the required access analysis and public comment,” Stahl said in an email. “The department will post an information release for providers in the coming weeks with more details.”

Idaho Association of HomeCare Agency President Lindsey Hendricks said exempting disability care providers from the cuts doesn’t solve their financial issues.

“We’re still so far behind on where we should be with reimbursement rates,” she told the Sun. 

If payments stay on track, about a quarter of Idaho personal care agencies are at risk of closing within the next year, according to a survey by the organization. And if the state’s cuts to Medicaid payments extend to disability care providers, even more agencies anticipate they’d be forced to make tough decisions, like closing their doors, cutting staff pay or services. 

Continued

Follow Up Story -

New Jersey - Over a year after their daughter's sudden group home death, a NJ couple still want answers

By Jean Rimbach and Ashley Balcerzak, North Jersey. com, October 14, 2025

It’s been more than a year since 21-year-old Katherine “Katie” Moronski died just two days after moving into a group home for adults with developmental disabilities in Sussex County, the result of a fatal mix of her prescription medications, which the staff was responsible for administering. 

Yet her parents are still waiting for the results of a state investigation into their daughter’s sudden and unexpected death. 

There has been no communication from the state office in charge of the probe, the Department of Human Services, since the couple’s one video interview last year. 

And investigators never followed up to view the medications returned to Katie’s parents after she died, which they said show evidence of tampering. 

“I was concerned when the state interviewed us for their investigation. I was concerned that they weren't inquisitive enough or looking at enough sources, or asking the right questions,” said Lynne Moronski, Katie’s mother, who is a nurse. 


“You know, every day we go to the mailbox and we look for a letter,” she said. “And I think that's been challenging for us, the uncertainty of it.” 

Sean Moronski, Katie’s father, said he doesn’t expect that the report will provide answers, but at the very least hopes it will recognize the need for change. 

“It is about Katie, but more so, it's about the most vulnerable people whom the government took a responsibility to help, to house and to further their lives,” Sean said. 

“They have a responsibility to make the best effort to find out what happened, and so that reduces the possibility of it happening again,” he said. “You would think that as an agency, there would be some type of lessons learned, because unfortunately, we can't help Katie now.” 

The death of the young woman with autism at a Broadstep group home in June 2024 was detailed in May of this year in the NorthJersey. com series Hidden at Home, which revealed serious ongoing problems in the $1.5 billion group home system, overseen by the state Department of Human Services — including a lack of basic care for residents and dozens of preventable deaths.  

A state spokesman did not respond to questions from NorthJersey. com about the Moronski investigation. The Department of Human Services has not answered questions from Hidden at Home reporters since mid-May.  

Katie’s death highlighted the prevalence of medication errors in the system and the absence of medical personnel to administer them properly, even for residents with a complex mix of prescriptions. 

Katie’s medications numbered about 30, taken at varying intervals throughout the day, some on an as-needed basis.  

In addition to being autistic, Katie was bipolar and struggled with depression and obsessive compulsive and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. She had asthma and nut and dairy allergies. 

The state and group homes confirmed 1,620 cases of medication errors and medication going missing from 2019 through 2024 across the state system, according to data obtained by NorthJersey. com through a public records request. 

Of those cases, 57 were listed as having a “serious effect,” and another 1,305 a “potentially serious effect.” 

The specifics of these cases are unknown because the state does not make incident reports public. 

Katie’s death also illustrates the state’s failure to complete timely and meaningful investigations into resident deaths, a complaint made by both families and providers. 

Generally, state investigators took an average of 3½ to six months to complete reports on group home and community provider cases, according to the latest data covering July 2024 through June 2025 obtained by NorthJersey. com through a public records request. 

The state handles only the cases it deems the most serious and opened 425 cases during that time frame. 

But the outcome is often dissatisfying to families and advocates. 

The state may require a group home to submit a plan of correction that details how it will respond to whatever issues investigators found, but those plans are not public, either. 

NorthJersey. com reporting has found that the state rarely uses its powers to punish poorly-performing providers, such as by closing homes, suspending admissions or creating a state panel to increase oversight. 

New Jersey does not have the power to fine group home companies.  

Continued

Maryland - 700 times, boy with autism ran from class. He wandered one final time from home.

By Jasmine Golden, The Washington Post, October 13, 2025

Miles McMahon ran up and squeezed between his parents, dancing as Disney tunes filled the kitchen of their Southern Maryland home. He puffed up his cheeks with air, bursting with laughter as his parents popped them that Sunday morning in October 2024.

They tickled and hugged and kissed Miles. They spun him around the room. A breeze blew through an open window, cooling the space in the autumn heat. As the morning wound down and the plan turned to showers and a walk, the family went upstairs to get ready.

They didn’t expect the doorbell.

Or how it would be the sound that bisected their lives. Before. And after.

Dominique McMahon, a 32-year-old wife and mother of two, rushed to get dressed. The ringing was relentless.

“Where’s Miles?” she remembers asking aloud.

The question had grown to consume their days at home and those of his teachers at school in Charles County. Miles, a kindergartner, had autism and wasn’t yet speaking. He had been a wanderer since he could walk.

Miles had been able to slip away from his preschool class more than 700 times, a number the McMahons weren’t aware of until the end of the school year, according to school records obtained by The Washington Post. He liked to flee from his parents, too.

The McMahons knew opening the door too wide carried the risk that their younger son would make his move. An intricate maze of locks and bolts at home was meant to keep him safe from a world his 5-year-old mind never feared.

But on this day, Oct. 13, he didn’t approach the door.

Where’s Miles?

The neighbor on the front porch had an unsettling answer: Moments earlier, his wife had seen Miles outside, barefoot and alone.

How he got out didn’t make sense to Dominique, but in that moment it didn’t matter. She put on Crocs and grabbed her glasses. “It’s Miles!” she shouted to her husband Tom, 38. Then she ran.

The chase had been part of their lives as parents. Finding help for Miles had been a frustrating lesson in waiting: It took more than a year to get him seen by a doctor who could diagnose his autism and open doors for therapy at home. And despite his parents’ pleas and recommendations from teachers, the school district had not put him in its program for students with autism, where trained teachers might have helped with his behavior.

Now he was gone. The frantic 12-hour search felt like forever. It was after midnight when authorities found Miles, drowned in a nearby pond.

In the months that followed, the story of Miles’s life — and the tragic way it ended — reverberated through the community, bringing light to a challenge faced by a growing number of families. It prompted teachers at his school to call on school system leaders for more resources for children with autism and spurred a wave of safety measures for students. And, Miles’s death, along with that of another young boy from Maryland, triggered a new state law that requires schools to tell parents when their child flees from school, track the number of times and make a plan to address it.

Away from safety

The brand of fear that shadowed the McMahons is well known by parents raising autistic children. So, too, is the risk of a devastating outcome.

In Boise, Idaho, Matthew Glynn walked away from his 5th birthday party and drowned in a canal. In West Chester Township, Ohio, Joshua Al-Lateef Jr., 6, was reported missing and found dead in a pond near his apartment building. And in Hopkins, Minnesota, 4-year-old Waeys Mohamed drowned in a creek.

More children with autism died in 2024 after wandering away — 82 — than in any other year since the National Autism Association began tracking cases over 20 years ago, said Lori McIlwain, the association’s co-founder and executive director. So far this year, at least 75 children have died.

Experts in the field call the behavior “eloping.”

Autistic adults said eloping usually appears as a form of communicating an unmet need. It might reflect the desire to move toward an attraction or away from a threat. And it can be difficult for parents and guardians to understand.

While an exact reason for the surge in elopement is difficult to pinpoint, post-pandemic service disruptions and an increase in autism diagnoses at earlier ages may all play a part, McIlwain said.

Death by eloping nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024, according to data from the National Autism Association. Most were around Miles’s age and drowned not far from where they went missing, McIlwain said.

“Water is the mute button for everything,” McIlwain said. “If there’s water nearby, that’s where these kids are going to go.”

Read the full article here

Texas - Teen with autism who was missing for days found in federal custody

By KHOU Staff via CNN Newsource, October 13, 2025

A teenager with autism who was missing for days was found in federal custody.

The Texas Center for the Missing reported that Emanuel Gonzalez Garcia went missing on Oct. 4.

Later that day, Houston police said firefighters found the teenager, who claimed he was homeless and from another country.

Officers were with Emanuel for four hours before they were advised by CPS to contact the Department of Health and Human Services.

For days, Emanuel had been in custody at the Office of Refugee Resettlement while his family was passing out flyers and looking for him. They had no idea that he had been found.

On Friday, Emanuel’s mom Maria spoke with her son for 30 minutes over FaceTime.

Emanuel’s mom is working with FIEL, an immigrant-led civil rights organization, who initially said Emanuel was in ICE custody, though the agency said that is not true.

An ICE spokesperson said, “When no family could be identified, ICE helped HPD place the minor with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement. At no point was the minor in ICE custody.”

Immigration attorney Charles C. Foster believes both Emanuel and his family are in a difficult position.

“The normal thing that the parents would want to do is recover the child, and that they know where the child is, but they’re going to run the risk when they do seek to recover the child they could actually be arrested by ICE,” he said.

The Houston Police Department said all checks were made to see if Emanuel was missing prior to him being placed in ORR.

KHOU’s immigration attorney said juvenile migrants only have certain legal protections if they were abused or neglected. It is unclear when or if the family could be reunited.

Read the full article here

Minnesota hospitals hoped for a $1 billion windfall, but the OBBBA has killed their plan

By Ana Radelat, MinnPost, October 13, 2025

Minnesota’s hospitals thought they had a great idea to increase the money they receive for treating Medicaid patients by leveraging federal dollars.

But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threatens to shred that plan and is even likely to kill it outright. The at-risk proposal was approved by the state Legislature in June and hospitals hoped it would bring them $1 billion in increased revenues every year.

The Minnesota Hospital Association developed the plan to boost hospital revenues because they lose money on every Medicaid patient they treat. A study by the American Hospital Association found that hospitals were paid just 88 cents for every dollar spent caring for Medicaid patients, who qualify for the program because they have low incomes. 

“It’s a difficult situation for hospitals because Medicaid pays us below cost,” said Joe Schindler, vice president of finance policy at MHA. So, the association came up with a proposal to increase those payments.

About 40 states have similar programs — called provider taxes or directed payments — to leverage federal dollars to increase money received from treating Medicaid patients.

“We were trying to fund our way out of a financial mess,” Schindler said.

The cost of the Medicaid program, known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota, is shared between the state and federal governments. That means the federal government is required to contribute a percentage of the cost of Medicaid. In Minnesota, it averages at about 62%. 

Boosting the cost of Medicaid payments to hospitals and other medical providers forces the federal government to pay more for Medicaid services. Under one provider tax scenario, states recoup their part of the cost share by taxing those hospitals and medical providers for the state’s share of the cost.

The new hospital provider tax, approved by the Legislature earlier this year, would raise the total surcharge to hospitals to 5.75%.

Yet the plan to raise hospital provider taxes ran into trouble when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act banned new provider taxes and capped existing provider taxes at 3.5% for states like Minnesota that expanded Medicaid services under the Affordable Care Act.

Continued

Iowa - I tried to talk to Joni Ernst about Medicaid. She didn't listen

By Tara Guion, Bleeding Heartland, Octover 13, 2025

Tara Guion is a mother of three from Iowa and an advocate for families affected by Medicaid policy, sharing her story to highlight the real impact of proposed cuts on Iowa children and families. 

As I stood in line at the Iowa State Fair, waiting to meet Senator Joni Ernst, I couldn’t help but think about my child, Luca, and the struggles we’ve faced as a family. My experience is a testament to the importance of Medicaid, a lifeline for many families like mine.

As a pregnant mother of two (soon to be three) boys, I’ve had my fair share of challenges, but it’s the memory of Luca’s four-and-a-half-month stay in the NICU that drives my advocacy. Born at just 25 weeks in March 2021, Luca’s prematurity and subsequent medical complications led to $1.7 million in medical costs, a burden that would have been insurmountable without Medicaid.

The care he has received, including occupational and physical therapy, as well as nutritional services, was crucial to his development. Today, at four and a half, he’s a thriving child, defying the odds, and he started school this fall. 

The anxiety and uncertainty that gripped our family during those early days were overwhelming. My husband and I did everything right—we were working, had private insurance—but Luca’s needs blew our budget. We would have sat on waiting lists for years to get in-home care. We couldn’t wait, so I quit my job to care for my son. Medicaid helped us navigate this challenging period, covering the costs of Luca’s care and allowing us to focus on his growth.

Now, I fear all Iowans are on a perpetual waiting list. Full of need, but no leadership. No action. We can’t even talk to our legislators about the issues we’re so concerned about. U.S. Representative Zach Nunn still refuses to hold a town hall, and Ernst (who is retiring next year) ran from me, referring me to her staff who still didn’t answer my questions. 

Many have witnessed my experience this summer. 

When calling Senator Ernst’s office to oppose the GOP tax and budget reconciliation law, I kept hitting dead ends; a staff member even hung up on my call. So I used her Iowa State Fair visit as an opportunity to get answers. That’s the least Iowans and families deserve. Every Iowan who voted to gut Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for the rich owes their constituents an explanation. 

When I finally met Senator Ernst, she seemed enthusiastic to talk. But as soon as I mentioned how Medicaid cuts would hurt families like mine, she dismissed my concerns and passed me off to a staffer. She didn’t even listen.

Here’s the video:

This is not just Ernst. Our legislators are not listening to Iowans. Instead, they are rubber stamping policies which are projected to kick 68,000 Iowans off Medicaid and raise premiums for 110,000 Iowans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Ernst’s response to Luca’s NICU stay was jarring—”That’s wonderful”—a stark contrast to the nightmare we endured. Every Iowa member of Congress voted for the budget reconciliation bill. None of them understand the struggles of families who rely on Medicaid. Now I wonder if they even care. My one-pound baby fought for his life in the NICU, undergoing experimental treatments and heart surgery—anything to help him survive. It wasn’t wonderful. 

For families like mine, Medicaid is priceless. Medicaid keeps NICU babies healthy. It ensures children have learning support at school. And so many Iowans are able to hold down a job thanks to Medicaid. If legislators aren’t listening to us, who is telling them to slash billions from a program that helps families? 

Read the full article here

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VOR SUPPORTS:

H.R.4796 - Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) - Restoring Essential Healthcare Act -To amend Public Law 119-21 (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act) to repeal the prohibition on making payments under the Medicaid program to certain entities.

H.R.4807 - Rep Greg Landsman (D-OH) - Protect Our Hospitals Act - To amend Public Law 119-21 to repeal certain changes to provider taxes under the Medicaid program. 

H.R.1262 & S.932 - Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) "Give Kids A Chance Act" - To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to molecularly targeted pediatric cancer investigations. This bill would renew research into pediatric cancers and includes increasing funding for rare diseases, some of which cause Intellual and developmental disabilities and autism.  

H.R.1509 & S.752 - Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) & Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act -

This bill would amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to streamline the enrollment process for eligible out-of-state providers under Medicaid and CHIP, and streamline enrollment under the Medicaid program of certain providers across State lines.

H.R.2598 & S.1277 - Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) The IDEA Full Funding Act

To amend part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide full Federal funding of such part.

S.2279 - Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)

A bill to repeal the changes to Medicaid State provider tax authority and State directed payments made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and provide increased funding for the rural health transformation program.

H.R.1950 - Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) - Protect Social Security and Medicare Act

To protect benefits provided under Social Security, Medicare, and any other program of benefits administered by the Social Security Administration or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

S.779 & H.R.1735 - Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) & Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX)

To amend title XIX of the Public Health Service Act to provide for prevention and early intervention services under the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services program

H.R.2491 & S.1227 - Rep Kat Cammack (R-FL) & Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) - The ABC Act

To require the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Commissioner of Social Security to review and simplify the processes, procedures, forms, and communications for family caregivers to assist individuals in establishing eligibility for, enrolling in, and maintaining and utilizing coverage and benefits under the Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Social Security programs



VOR OPPOSES:

H.R.2743 & S.1332 - Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) & Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Raise the Wage Act - A bill to provide increases to the Federal minimum wage and for other purposes. VOR opposes the provision in this bill that would phase out section 14(c) and sheltered workshops for indiviiduals with I/DD and autism.

S.2438 - Transformation to Competitive Employment Act (Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) - A bill 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 people with disabilities through competitive integrated employment, to phase out the use of such special certificates, and for other purposes. 

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