From the Chicago Tribune:

While other states have been moving adults with disabilities out of institutions, the state of Illinois spends more on institutional care for people with disabilities and less for group homes than any state in the nation.

Illinois ranks at or near the bottom in per capita spending in almost every category when it comes to caring for disabled adults — a record that critics call “shameful” and “embarrassing.”

And in recent weeks, millions more that would have helped people move from institutions has been sliced from the state budget.

Tribune reporters follow a 48-year-old woman with autism who recently moved out of an institution and into a group home, a suburban ranch house on a quiet, tree-lined street southwest of Chicago. Helen is “one of the lucky ones.”

Howe Developmental Center, the institution Helen left, has been called a model for “stubborn ineptitude.”

Watchdog groups have compiled a list of at least 21 deaths there since 2005 they say are directly attributable to substandard care. The center recently got its third director in as many years. Last year, the neglect forced the federal government to rescind Howe’s Medicaid certification, stripping the center of nearly $30 million and triggering an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

But rather than close Howe and find alternatives for its 320 residents, Illinois became its sole provider. The state spends $60 million a year—or roughly $169,000 per resident—to keep Howe open.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 6:19 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, abuse, autism, behavior, group homes, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.