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* Marie Fazio at the Tribune…
Illinois ranks among the worst states in the country for how it cares for people with developmental disabilities, according to Ancor, a national association of more than 1,600 private providers of services to people with disabilities. Since 2011, the state has been under a federal court order to do better. The question is, how much better can the state afford to be?
The state spends at least $400 million a year on services and aid for the developmentally disabled, according to Allison Stark, director of the Human Services Department’s division of developmental disabilities. She estimates Illinois would have to double that amount to eliminate the wait for services.
There aren’t enough community programs and group homes, said Stark, who served as CEO of a community provider before being hired by the state. Some providers, strapped for resources, are unwilling to accept people who need highly skilled care. […]
There are roughly 19,500 people on a waiting list the state keeps of those who want state aid and services. About 8,200 of them are actively seeking services and about 11,300 anticipate needing services sometime in the future. Generally, no one under 18 is selected unless there is a “crisis situation” such as homelessness or abuse or neglect, according to Stark.
Under a “reasonable pace” provision in the court order, the state has promised that by 2025, no person will wait more than five years after their 18th birthday to receive state aid to pay for home care, job coaches or other services. The current wait is as long as seven years. Stark said the department is on track to reach its target.
Horrific.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 1:43 pm
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Yep. We are required to help plan for services with the state for our students with special needs that will need these services. Aside from support to attend schooling like college or community college Illinois is abysmal.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 1:48 pm
This is nothing new and the best the state can suggest is only a 5 year wait? As someone who has been working with this system for decades the only real answers are to increase services based in the home,shut down the unused and out of date state residential centers. That would free up over $100M. This has been a stain on Illinois for decades and no politician or political party has ever said, No More-we will fix this.
Comment by NeverPoliticallyCorrect Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 1:53 pm
The unreported part of this story is many of these group homes lack staff due to the wages paid to them. The employees hired are not always properly trained. The homes are tucked away from the organizations grand administration offices.
Comment by Klaus von Bülow Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 2:18 pm
One can’t but wonder how many parents of special needs children (cf. “seclusion”) and families of developmentally-disabled adults/near-adults migrate from Illinois to states which provide more/better support and services (I follow sb on twitter who moved to MN for this reason).
w/r/t yesterday’s Our Sorry State on out-migration
Comment by dbk Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 2:20 pm
This is outrageous. Government exists to take care of its most vulnerable and it’s failing at it. Miserably.
Comment by Shytown Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 3:48 pm
The most affordable solution is to support families and support them well, before they disintegrate and resort to expensive state-operated facilities. Which yearly bill would you want: $60,000 per year, per person, for a community-based solution or $250,000 per year, per person, for a state-operated developmental center? Why do we continue to make the most expensive and most demoralizing choice? There is only one state which institutionalizes more people with developmental disabilities than does Illinois and that state is Texas. What a despicable legacy we’ve made for ourselves.
Comment by Informed Mom Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 3:50 pm
News coverage and advocacy efforts are great, but the only thing that has ever moved the needle in Illinois are lawsuits like Ligas. It is the reason more people aren’t on the waiting list, the reason the state has put any funding at all into the DSP wage crisis, and the reason these agencies got paid during the impasse. My continuing, unsolicited advice to advocates: don’t waste your time going to legislators who will say the right things and do nothing, but put your efforts into lawsuits.
Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Jan 8, 20 @ 4:37 pm