The Going Home Campaign is calling for the closure of six of the seven state institutions in
Illinois. Those opposed to the closing are quoted in this story from the Illinois Observer.

Arc is also quoted.

Tony

 

Groups vastly differ on closing of developmental centers

MARK FITTON     |     MARCH 31, 2015

 

SPRINGFIELD — A coalition of advocates for the developmentally disabled is calling for
the eventual closure of six of seven of the state’s residential centers.

The Going Home coalition is not proposing legislation this session and it’s not saying
which of the existing centers should remain open.

But the coalition’s proposal is not without opponents and, in fact, reveals a divide in the
community of developmentally disabled people and their families.

Going Home says community-based care can provide a better quality of living for the
1,730 people now in state-operated centers.

And, it says, community caregivers can do the job not only better, but cheaper.

The coalition says Illinois is spending about $429 million annually to serve state center
residents. It says community-based caregivers can do that job equally well or better for
about $92 million per year.

“Illinois is facing a major budget crisis. This is a unique opportunity to save the state
significant money,” said Cheryl Jansen, legislative director of Equip for Equality, one of
the coalition members.

Further, the coalition says, Illinois is following an antiquated care or service model that
warehouses individuals.

It cites Illinois’ status as the state with the third-most people in residential care, behind only
New York and Texas.

At the same time, the coalition says, Illinois ranks 47th in the country when it comes to
providing funding for community living for the developmentally disabled.

Tony Paulauski, executive director of The Arc of Illinois, said Illinois is still warehousing the
developmentally disabled and must transition to community based care.

Fourteen states currently have no state centers and 35 states have 500 or fewer people
living in state-operated centers, he said.

But the coalition is not the sole voice among the developmentally disabled or their guardians
and caregivers.

“They may have said they want to close six, but they want to close all of them,” said Rita
Burke, president of Illinois League of Advocates for the Developmentally Disabled, or IL-
ADD.

Burke, the parent of adult resident of Choate Mental Health Center in Anna, said her
organization doesn’t agree that every resident of the state’s centers can survive, let alone
thrive, outside the centers.

Her group includes many officers of the parents associations of the seven remaining state
centers, and those parents groups do not support mass or sudden closures.

She argues the cost savings cited by Going Home is vastly oversimplified and does not
adequately address care for individuals with extraordinary medical needs.

And considering Illinois is ranked 47th in the state in terms of support for community-based
care, what makes anyone think it will suddenly be ready to transfer 1,700 people to
community care, she asked.

State Rep. Charles Meier, R-Okawville, is a passionate defender of the Murray Center in
Centralia, which the Quinn administration tried to close.

For now, at least, the Murray Center remains open.

But he says some of the initial transfers out were badly handled and, in fact, put people in
settings that met their needs far less successfully than the state center did.

“People have the right to decide where they want to live, “ he said, and many state residents
— and their parents or guardians —  believe they have do have good lives and wish to
remain in the state centers.

He says rushing to close centers is a poor idea, and the state will “certainly need more than
one,” given both the state’s physical size and its population.

Critics of the effort to close state centers also note some coalition members — Arc of Illinois
among them — also provide community care and stand to benefit from state closures.

Meier and many parents point to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead vs. L.C.,
saying they say the residents of the state centers have a right to choose to remain where
they are.

In that case, two residents of a Georgia state facility sued to prevent transfer to community-
care settings.

The court held  transfers must meet three criteria:

The new setting is appropriate according to state treatment professionals.
The new setting is not opposed by the resident and is less restrictive than the state
institution.
The transfer can be reasonably accommodated given the resources of the state.

The court also said there is no federal requirement that community-based treatment be
imposed.

Illinois’ seven centers for the developmentally disabled are in Anna, Centralia, Dwight,
Dixon, Kankakee, Park Forest and Waukegan.

Since 2001, the state has closed centers in Lincoln, Tinley Park and Jacksonville.

The seven remaining Illinois centers employ a total of roughly 3,600 people, most of them
represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which
has opposed facility closures in the past. An AFSCME Council 31 spokesman declined to
comment for this story.

Illinois News Network reporter Greg Bishop contributed to this story.


Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org