Montana Begins Community Transition

HELENA, Mont. — As part of plans to close the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder, the Bullock administration has arranged to move 40 percent of MDC residents to local, privately run group homes this year.

The administration said this week it has contracted with Anaconda-based AWARE Inc. to move 21 developmentally disabled residents from MDC over the next seven months. The first patients will be moved in mid-February.The state will pay $5.235 million to AWARE for the first year of the contract, including a one-time payment of $1.26 million for the transition costs.

RI Plans Moving Toward Shared Residential Living Model

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In an effort to close a projected $6-million shortfall, the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals plans to move up to 300 adults with developmental disabilities from group homes into shared residential living arrangements by the end of March.

Maria Montanaro, the agency's director, said it's a model the state should be moving toward regardless of whether there is a budget crisis. Still, she acknowledged that moving that many people that quickly is aggressive and might not be achievable. There are currently 3,800 individuals with developmental disabilities receiving state care. Roughly 1,300 of those individuals are in group homes.

Book Explores Rosemary Kennedy's Life

Interesting review of “The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women” by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff. Bancroft Press (Baltimore, 2015). 258 pp., $27.50.

The story of young Rosemary Kennedy (1918-2005), the first daughter born to the celebrated Boston family, invites sad contemplation of what might have been. One wonders if things would have turned out quite differently for the younger sister of President John F. Kennedy, who at age 7 was diagnosed as intellectually disabled (or “mentally retarded,” as it was then termed), if during her delivery the nurse had not directed Rosie’s mother to close her legs and thus delay delivery for some two hours until the attending physician could arrive.

Justice Center Records Raise Questions

ALBANY, N.Y.  — The agency responsible for protecting those with special needs declined to investigate most of the nearly 1,400 deaths of developmentally disabled people in state care in the past two years, leaving the majority of investigations to the caretaker facilities themselves, according to newly released records.

An advocate who sought the documents' release under the state's open-records law said they indicate that the Justice Center, established more than two years ago by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to be the primary investigative agency for possible cases of abuse and neglect in state care, is simply not doing its job.

Clinton Outlines Autism Plan

This week in Iowa, Hillary Clinton announced a detailed plan to address autism, including additional resources and research. NPR's Kelly McEvers speaks with Ron Fournier, a columnist for National Journal and father of a child with Asperger's syndrome, about the plan and the significance of a presidential campaign taking on the issue.

Schumer Pushes Civil Rights Bill

State Senator Charles Schumer was in Utica today pushing for a new piece of legislation that would give individuals with disabilities the option to live at home so they can live more independently.  Eyewitness News reporter Nicole Todd visited Schumer at Upstate Cerebral Palsy and has more

Senator Schumer was in town today. He's proposed legislation that he says would help put an end to civil rights problems for with people with long-term disabilities.

Georgia-DOJ Impasse Frustrates Judge

Georgia and the U.S. Department of Justice remain at an impasse over improvements to the state’s services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, despite a federal judge’s push for quicker action to resolve their differences.Wednesday was the day set by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell last month for attorneys for the two sides to report back to him on their progress. But after a brief conference in his court Wednesday, he told them to prepare for a formal hearing in late March.