* Tribune…

The house had no address; the dead man had no name.

Illinois officials blacked out those details from their investigative report. Nobody else was supposed to learn the man’s identity or the location of the state-funded facility where his body was found.

The investigation was closed as it began, with no public disclosure, and the report was filed away, one of thousands that portray a hidden world of misery and harm.

No one would know that Thomas Powers died at 3300 Essington Road in unincorporated Joliet, in a group home managed for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Or that his caregivers forced a 50-year-old man with the intellect of a small child to sleep on a soiled mattress on the floor in a room used for storage.

Or that the front door bore a building inspection sticker that warned, “Not approved for occupancy.”

Not even Powers’ grieving family knew the state had looked into his death and found evidence of neglect.

As Illinois steers thousands of low-income adults with disabilities into private group homes, a Tribune investigation found Powers was but one of many casualties in a botched strategy to save money and give some of the state’s poorest and most vulnerable residents a better life. […]

The Tribune identified 1,311 cases of documented harm since July 2011 — hundreds more cases than publicly reported by the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Drop what you’re doing and go read the whole thing right now.

*** UPDATE ***  From IARF President & CEO Janet Stover…

No one enters the vocation of providing community-based care to individuals with intellectual developmental/disabilities because it is easy or lucrative. The individuals and organizations dedicated to this field are driven by their compassion and a sense of mission. We are saddened when confronted with suffering by those we serve, we grieve with families in the face of unspeakable loss, and we continuously strive to minimize the risks in serving people.

While today’s story in the Chicago Tribune detailed tragic instances where supports for individuals failed, it also acknowledged the extreme difficulties that all community service providers face - even in the best of circumstances. Most importantly, as this story made clear, Illinois’ network of community-based services and supports are not operating under the best of circumstances, with reimbursement rates having been frozen by the state for nearly a decade.

The single most critical issue facing the provision of community-based services and supports is the inability to recruit and retain frontline staff. For years, our community has been sounding the alarm about this growing crisis. Unfortunately, just yesterday, the Illinois General Assembly failed to override the Governor’s veto of legislation that would have increased wages for these frontline workers. That legislation represented the greatest step we could have taken in addressing a core problem outlined in the Chicago Tribune’s story. Yesterday’s actions represent a serious setback to these efforts. However, our compassion, our sense of mission, and our commitment to serving and supporting individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities will keep us moving forward.

There were other important issues raised by the Chicago Tribune regarding transparency, effective oversight, and other ways to improve reporting and accountability. IARF and the organizations we represent always stand ready to advance and support meaningful reforms that are person-centered and improve quality of life. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with the individuals and families we serve and state government towards those ends.