The other large cuts made by the Governor are to DMR administration, where they may send the caseloads of service coordinators toward an impossible 60 people each; to the Autism department, which was increasing the number of families receiving early intervention; and to DOE-DMR, a joint program which attempts to coordinate community based services for young people with special needs and DMR eligibility to keep them at home and avoid expensive residential school placements. It can be argued that all of these cuts target the minority of the most disabled people served by DMR, but the flat-funded or slightly cut contracted community-residential system is also under great demographic pressure, and thus more people with mild and moderate MR/DD are waiting around longer without any or adaquate services, although provider capacity is at least being maintained.

--end--, but comments are enabled!

COFAR released this initial response this evening: 

 Dear COFAR Members,We received news of the ruling by the US Appeals Court which is not the news we wanted.  The court overturned Judge Tauro’s ruling, stating that he did not have the right to reopen the Ricci case as there had been no findings of systemic violations.While this is disappointing news, please keep in mind that both Judge Tauro’s ruling as well as the ruling of the Appeals Court are very narrow.  Nothing in this ruling denies the Fernald residents or any other Ricci class members their rights to “equal or better” services; and DMR can and must be held to that standard, both in Judge Tauro’s court and in State court.  Furthermore, all DMR clients, whether or not they are class members, have many rights under both DMR regulations and Massachusetts state law.  We fully expect that DMR will uphold these laws and regulations, and we urge guardians to be aware of their rights, and to use the appeals system if they feel it is necessary to maintain the rights of their wards. This ruling is neither a mandate nor a green light for DMR to close all facilities in Massachusetts. We look forward to working cooperatively with both DMR and the courts in seeking the services that our relatives are entitled to. 

-- Colleen Lutkevich

Executive Director, COFAR