Funding Challenges Familes with Adult Children

Neil Stevenson and his son, Niles,
at home.

GEORGETOWN, Del. -- Neil Stevenson's son is 33 years old, yet he still lives at home. That's because he has nowhere else to go.
Stevenson calls his son, Niles, a "forever child." He's intellectually disabled, but because of a seizure condition, it's hard to find adequate medical services to supervise him. And Niles doesn't qualify for group housing -- that is, unless Stevenson and his wife either abandon him or die.

Families Face Loss of Respite Centers

Every few months, Jim Schmitt and his wife take their 14-year-old twin sons to a state-run respite center in Putnam for the weekend. He calls it a saving grace: It's the only time he and his wife spend together without their boys, who have autism and do not speak.
"You love your kids to death, but you wait for those weekends to be able to get away," Schmitt said.
Schmitt's sons were scheduled to go to the respite center Sept. 8, and he and his wife were thinking about taking a trip to Maine. But officials are planning to shut down the state's 10 respite centers by Sept. 5, part of a plan to cut $1.6 billion from the state budget. Closing the respite centers, which serve 1,100 families a year, is projected to save the state just under $8 million over two years.

Mom Raises Awareness and Shares Support with Facebook Group

MAYBROOK, N.Y. -- From day one, Shari Heter of Maybrook wanted to reach out to others.
"I felt like I had a story to tell — even though I didn't know the whole story," she says. "But to be shut down and shut down before finally being validated, I was ready to yell from a mountaintop."
About six months or so ago, Facebook became the platform from which Heter's voice — and now more than 200 other voices — is heard.

Families Fear Wisconsin Cap on Program

APPLETON, Wis. — Local families are deeply worried about a state budget proposal to cap enrollment in Family Care, the state's long-term care and community-based support program for people with disabilities and the elderly.
The potential consequences are enough to keep Steve and Agnes Behnke of Kaukauna up at night when they consider the future of their 9-year-old daughter, who has significant physical impairment, some cognitive delays and uses a wheelchair.
"Abbie is still in school but it's a constant concern," said Steve Behnke. "What will happen to her when one or both of us can't care for her?"

Illinois Families Relocating for Services

Chrisa Hickey, a northwest suburban mom whose 16-year-old son hears voices, has bought property in Wisconsin with an eye to the future.
She wouldn't leave Barrington for career, retirement or the more languid pace of small-town living. Her relocation plans are strictly a way to keep Tim in his $85,000-a-year residential treatment center, currently funded by the state of Illinois.
"People ask, 'Why spend that kind of money on one kid?' And I tell them that he's 6-foot-2, 200 pounds and could pick up a desk when he was 4. If he gets angry in class, do you want him sitting next to your kid?"
Although no one tracks why people leave one state for another, anecdotal evidence suggests Hickey is one of several who are planning to leave Illinois — or has already left — because of diminishing human services here.