From the Associate Press (10.28.10):
Ind. parents told drop disabled kids at shelters
Indiana's budget crunch has become so severe that some state workers have suggested leaving severely disabled people at homeless shelters if they can't be cared for at home, parents and advocates said.
They said workers at Indiana's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services have told parents that's one option they have when families can no longer care for children at home and haven't received Medicaid waivers that pay for services that support disabled people living independently…
… There have been no confirmed cases of families dumping severely disabled people at homeless shelters because Indiana wouldn't provide the care needed.
But some families have been on waiting lists for waivers for 10 years. The lists contained more than 20,000 names last month, and one advocacy group predicted they will only grow longer because Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered budget cuts that have eliminated 2,000 waiver slots since July.
Budget cuts also have resulted in the state moving foster children with disabilities to a lower cost program that doesn't provide services for special needs and eliminating a grocery benefit for hundreds of developmentally disabled adults…
How could anyone even suggest something like this? This is absolutely offensive. I’m sure that not only is this happening in Indiana, but in many other parts of the United States as well. Parents of children with disabilities should not have to worry about more budget cuts to needed services and individuals with disabilities should not have to worry about being dropped off at shelters. They should not have to suffer the consequences of poorly made decisions by policy makers who opt to fund other projects that they consider “worthwhile.” The public needs to take a stand and speak out against these kinds of suggestions because if we don’t, a plan such as this one will soon be the norm.
Posted by: J. Ito-Carver | November 12, 2010 at 03:53 AM