News Story
Indiana parents told drop disabled kids at
shelters
By KEN KUSMER, Associated Press
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.
Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for the Family and Social Services
Administration, the umbrella agency that includes the bureau, said
suggesting homeless shelters is not the agency's policy and workers
who did so would be disciplined.
However, Becky Holladay of Battle Ground, Ind., said that's exactly
what happened to her when she called to ask about the waiver she's
seeking for her 22-year-old son, Cameron Dunn, who has epilepsy,
autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Holladay, a school nurse, said she and her husband would go bankrupt
trying to pay for services themselves, so Cameron spends most days
sitting in his stepfather's truck while he works as a municipal
employee.
"It's heart-wrenching as a parent to watch it. We are people and
they are people," Holladay said, referring to her son and others
with disabilities. "They have lives that are worth something."
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.
Kim Dodson, associate executive director of The Arc of Indiana, said
her group has received reports of state workers in several of BDDS's
eight regional offices telling families to take disabled adults to
homeless shelters. She speculated that the suggestion resulted from
frustration among BDDS staff as families become more outspoken about
the effects of state cuts.
"It is something we are hearing from all over the state, that
families are being told this is an alternative for them," Dodson
said. "A homeless shelter would never be able to serve these
people."
State lawmakers said they also have received reports from several
people who were told they could always abandon their adult children
at homeless shelters.
Rep. Suzanne Crouch, R-Evansville, said she found it "deplorable
that people are being told to go to a homeless shelter."
Leaders of several agencies serving homeless people across Indiana
could not be reached for comment after business hours Wednesday.
Some parents said homeless shelters have also been suggested — or
threatened — as an option by private care providers.
Daunna Minnich of Bloomington said Indiana Department of Education
funding for residential treatment for her 18-year-old daughter,
Sabrina, is due to run out Sunday. She said officials at Damar
Services Inc. of Indianapolis told her during a meeting that unless
she took Sabrina home with her, the agency would drop the teen off
at a homeless shelter.
Sabrina, who's bipolar and has anxiety attacks, has attempted
suicide, run away during home visits and threatened her older
sister, Minnich said. Bringing Sabrina home isn't a viable option,
but the two group home placements BDDS offered weren't appropriate,
she said.
"I don't want to see the state of Indiana hasten her demise by
putting her in a one-size-fits-all solution that will drive her to
desperate acts," Minnich said.
Jim Dalton, Damar's chief operating officer, said he could not
comment directly on any specific case but his nonprofit would never
leave a client at a homeless shelter — even though it is caring for
some for free after they got too old for school-funded services and
haven't yet been granted Medicaid waivers.
“We're talking about youth that absolutely require services, and no
one is willing to fund them anymore," Dalton said.