The day ProPublica and Frontline reported how people with mental illness are slipping through the cracks, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis questioned state officials, suggested more help and requested a report on oversight.
by Joaquin Sapien
This story was co-published with Frontline.
At a court hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis
questioned New York state officials and disability advocates about
people with mental illness dying or coming to harm after moving from
adult group homes into “supported housing” apartments, problems raised
in a ProPublica and Frontline investigation published that day with The New York Times.
He ordered an independent report to assess the effectiveness of the
state’s incident reporting system, got the state to commit to examining
its service-coordination program and suggested the state develop a
program to help residents learn and practice basic life skills in
supported housing.
Four years ago, in a landmark settlement secured by advocates,
Garaufis issued a court order offering more than 4,000 adult home
residents in New York City a chance to move. The idea was that many did
not need to live in such facilities — which can house hundreds of
residents and have a history
of abuse and neglect — and could instead thrive in their own apartments
with the right support. The order instructed evaluators to presume that
all residents would be fit to do so.
But ProPublica and Frontline found that clinicians evaluating adult
home residents for the transition felt censored when they raised
concerns about a person’s ability to live alone, and that workers felt
pressured to “sell the move,” even to people who they thought were
ill-equipped.
Click here for the full article.
Source: ProPublica
No comments:
Post a Comment