NJ Return Home Program Nears End

TRENTON — The Christie Administration’s practice of requiring developmentally disabled people getting subsidized care out-of-state to return to New Jersey would end under a bill approved unanimously by the State Assembly on Thursday.

The bill to end the state’s “Return Home New Jersey” program was passed by a vote of 79-0 with one seat vacant. Having already drawn Senate approval, it is expected to be signed by Governor Christie, because it is the product of negotiation between the Democratic majority and the administration, said a spokeswoman for the Democratic majority.

The state Department of Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disabilities, noting the ongoing growth of supportive housing for the disabled, states the goal of “Return Home New Jersey” has been to return individuals “to a comparable or better setting in New Jersey … and to better manage the state resources that serve the community of nearly 29,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in New Jersey.”

CDC: Rise in Autism Prevalence

The number of autism cases in the United States appeared to jump dramatically in 2014 according to new estimates released Friday, but researchers said that changes in the format of the questionnaire likely affected the numbers.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistics shows that the prevalence of autism in children ages 3 to 17 went up nearly 80 percent from 2011-2013 to 2014. Instead of 1 in 68 children having autism – a number that has alarmed public health officials in recent years and strained state and school system resources — researchers now estimate that the prevalence is now 1 in 45.

Budget Roundup: Fighting Planned Cuts

The message is coming from so many states that we decided to compile a roundup. First piece addresses New Jersey cut and is by Tom Toronto, president of United Way of Bergen County

We are deeply concerned about the position the state of New Jersey has recently taken with respect to housing opportunities for those with disabilities and special needs.

The state is contemplating a rule change that will limit housing choices for people with developmental disabilities to either four-bedroom group homes or set-aside units that are 25 percent or less of a large multifamily development. Bergen County's United Way believes that people with developmental disabilities have the right to choose from a full array of housing, lifestyle and support-service options.

Charlene Smith-Scott, an employee with The Arc Baltimore, responds to Maryland cuts.

Before Gov. Martin O'Malley left office, he cut funding that my colleagues and I were counting on to stay ahead of minimum wage. Now, Gov. Larry Hogan is doing the same thing with the new budget. People in my profession are not state employees, but we are doing work that is the responsibility of the state. Maryland doesn't seem to take that seriously because we are paid as the lowest of the low among our comparable peers in health care, elder care and the like.

NEWARK, Del. — The conflict among caretakers and community advocates for Delawareans with intellectual and development disabilities came out in full force during a public hearing Monday discussing how taxpayer-funded community housing and work placement funded is offered in the state.The hearing, held at Delaware State Police Troop 2 headquarters in Newark, provided a forum for the community to evaluate Delaware's preliminary transition plan to adapt a new federal rule that changes how subsidized home- and community-based services are funded.

N.J. Human Services Chief Leaving Post

Jennifer Velez, credited by policy analysts and healthcare advocates with expertly handling some of the biggest Medicaid changes in New Jersey’s history, is ending her eight-year run as state human services commissioner.

Her tenure was marked by an ability to balance competing demands under governors from both major political parties, and reshaping Medicaid as well as non-healthcare programs affecting the state’s children.

Parents, Advocates Blast Housing Plan

TRENTON — One parent of a man with autism called it confusing and terrifying. A housing developer of community housing for people with developmental disabilities called it "a misguided social experiment."

Marsha Adams testifies about
 her son who needs 24-hour care.

The Christie administration's sweeping proposal to promote community living and wider access to jobs and activities for the developmentally disabled was roundly criticized at an Assembly hearing at the Statehouse Thursday. Parents, advocates speciality home builders and community agencies said they feared the Department of Human Services' blueprint to spend a large portion of its Medicaid funding could disrupt the living arrangements and daily routines of thousands of people.

Autism Speaks Shifts Focus to Adults

After prioritizing the needs of children for years, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization is turning its attention to expanding housing options and supports for adults.

Starting as a pilot project in three states — Florida, New Jersey and Illinois — Autism Speaks is working with locally-based disability advocacy groups and policymakers to identify legislative goals and mobilize its own network to push for expanded home and community-based services.

N.J. Teachers Accused of Insulting Special Ed Students in Online Chat

Heard about this story this morning and really have to wonder what the teachers were thinking? And can totally understand the reaction of parents. Lesson learned: Don't put anything out there, even when your chatting, that you don't want to see in the news (or on Page 1, as we used to say at newspapers).

EDISON, N.J. — Parents of Edison special education students are furious in the wake of accusations that Edison schoolteachers participated in an online chat that insulted the types of kids they've spent their lives advocating for.

"This is my district, and it hurts even more," said Andrea Siragusa, an advocate for special education students like his son, a 7th grader in Edison's schools. "What is the rest of the class learning from a teacher like that?"

Opiniion: NJ Must Re-Evaluate Developmental Center Transfers

Bob Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, represents the 38th District in the state Senate; Peter Barnes III, D-Middlesex, represents the 18th District in the state Senate.

Almost three decades ago the Krautman family of Fair Lawn struggled to find a local community living facility for their daughter Stacie, who has a severe form of Down syndrome. They could not find a New Jersey facility to meet their daughter’s unique needs but, thankfully, they found one in neighboring New York that did.
But after 27 years of living in New York, Stacie and hundreds of others living in out-of-state facilities are being uprooted by the Christie administration and forced to move back to New Jersey. Why? Because the state qualifies for additional federal funding if Stacie and others live here.

NJ Assembly Considers Halting Transfers

Two unexplained deaths, push to return residents from out-of-state centers, disturb families and advocates.

Dawn Apgar

They also want to stop the state from forcing the return of developmentally disabled residents who have been living in out-of-state facilities.Alarmed by reports of two deaths after the state transferred patients out of developmental centers into group homes, legislators are calling for a moratorium on any more transfers pending further investigations.

Editorial: Troubling Statistics in NJ as Autism Awareness Month Begins

As Autism Awareness Month begins today, new information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitively show the issue merits much more attention. The rate has more than doubled since a 2002 CDC survey.

As Kathleen O’Brien reported last week in The Star-Ledger, one in 68 children is
now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder nationally — with boys nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism.

In New Jersey, it’s estimated that one in 48 children — and one in 28 boys — has autism.

New Jersey Agency Aims for Full Community Integration

UNION COUNTY, N.J. — Milagros Rivera doesn’t speak words and occasionally makes sounds. She spent most of her life at the state-run Woodbridge Developmental Center.But during the past few years, Rivera has lived at a group home in Roselle and has a job feeding papers into a shredder at Community Access Unlimited’s day program. Rivera takes her task seriously, straightening out some pages before feeding them into the shredder.“She’s very content,” said Bernadette Griswold, Community Access Unlimited (CAU) managing assistant executive director. “She’s an awesome person.
”Having those with developmental disabilities fully integrated into the community is what Community Access Unlimited is striving for, especially with state plans to close two developmental centers; the Woodbridge Developmental Center and the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa.

Teen Couple Humiliated at Movie Theater Plan New Date Courtesy of Phillies

OK, even as a Mets fan, I have to post this and tip my cap to Philadelphia Phillies and their fans.

What first seemed like a humiliating date night for a teenage couple has set off a flood of support larger than even FOX 29 expected.

On Wednesday night, we introduced you to 17-year-old Annarose and 18-year-old Stephan. Both live with Down Syndrome and both are inseparable.

This past weekend, Stephan planned to take Annarose to an AMC movie theater in Marlton, New Jersey. The theater had assigned seating and the couple accidentally sat in the wrong row.

A movie theater worker told them to move to different seats that were separate from each other.

Legislation Planned to Halt Closing of Two New Jersey Developmental Centers

WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-19th District, plans to introduce legislation next week that would reverse the binding aspect of a recommendation made by a task force last summer to close two of the state’s developmental centers, including the one here.

A similar bill is planned in the Assembly, and if approved could lead to a more negotiated discussion about the future of the development centers that house some of the state’s most profoundly developmentally disabled residents.

Higher Payments May Prompt More New Jersey Doctors to Accept Medicaid Patients

A two-year project is under way to encourage primary care doctors to accept Medicaid-eligible patients by paying for many services at the same level as Medicare.
Many poor or disabled patients have limited access to healthcare because so few doctors have been willing to accept the low Medicaid reimbursement rates.
The federal government will cover the difference between Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for 146 primary-care services from Jan. 1 through the end of 2014. The increased payments will be made to family physicians, pediatricians and internal medicine doctors who specialize in primary care.

N.J. Senator Focuses on Relocating Residents

More than 500 disabled individuals will need new homes as the state closes its Totowa and Woodbridge developmental centers over the next five years.

Sen. Loretta Weinberg wants to make sure that in planning for those relocations, the state Division of Developmental Disabilities takes into account lessons learned from earlier developmental center closures.

Toward that end, Weinberg has introduced legislation to require a study of how several hundred former residents of the North Princeton Developmental Center fared after it was closed in 1998.

N.J. Senate Backs Bill To Prohbit Discrimination

TRENTON – Legislation that would prohibit discrimination against a potential organ transplant recipient on the basis of a mental or physical disability cleared the full Senate Monday.
“People with developmental disabilities should not be treated as second-class citizens,” said state Senate President Steve Sweeney. “Their disabilities do not make them any less human or worthy of respect and common decency. They should be afforded the same rights as anyone would want when entering a hospital.”

Opinion: N.J. Needs More Community-Based Care

In this year’s budget address, Gov. Chris Christie said, “New Jersey has the second-highest rate of institutionalization in America. ... This is a shameful fact. We must change. It’s long overdue. We must move aggressively to provide this type of care in the community.”
Staying true to his commitment, Gov. Christie committed more than $40 million in this year’s budget to programs and services to support moving individuals with developmental disabilities who live in institutions to community residences. Additionally, he signed legislation to create a Task Force on the Closure of State Developmental Centers and charged it with selecting one or more for closure. In late July, the task force issued its binding recommendation to close the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa and the Woodbridge Developmental Center within five years and move residents who are able to community-based options.

Panel Urges N.J. to Expand Community Services

TRENTON, N.J. -- Trenton should spend all of the mon­ey it saves shutting down state institutions for the disabled in Totowa and Wood­bridge on building up a community-based replacement system of housing and care, according to the state task force that rec­ommended the closures.
But the governor’s office stopped short of making that commitment. In a state­ment Friday, a spokesman for Governor Christie said only that the administration will continue to make “significant invest­ments” in community services for the de­velopmentally disabled.

N.J. Panel Recommends Closing 2 Institutions

TRENTON — State-run institutions for people with developmental disabilities in Woodbridge and Totowa will close in five years, under a binding vote taken by a task force Monday.
The governor and legislature agreed to accept and abide by the panel's recommendations.

Medicaid Waiver Would Increase Community-Based Services in New Jersey

New Jersey’s application for a Medicaid waiver would change the way federal money is administered for people with developmental disabilities, allowing many to stay out of institutions by receiving more community-based support services.
If approved, the state is proposing to spend $90 million a year on support that includes day programs for the disabled as an alternative to living in one of the state's seven developmental centers.