Marilyn Meagher, president of The Fernald League for the Retarded, writes in the Boston Globe that Massachusetts is pushing ahead to close the Fernald Developmental Center without providing viable alternatives for people with developmental disabilities.

She says it is not enough for the state to “muddle through;” instead, she says Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration must develop a “comprehensive plan for the future of care for people with mental retardation.”

An excerpt:

The system is broken, and potential solutions need to be carefully considered by the department and all its stakeholders. Yet this administration seems to have focused on just one initiative with respect to this entire population — the closure of one state-run institution.

… How will the administration find the services necessary for the thousands of people with mental retardation who are currently waiting for them? Where will the housing come from for the remaining 160 Fernald Center residents if that facility is ultimately closed?

In a 2006 article in the Globe, Meagher was identified as the sister of a then-55-year-old woman who has lived at Fernald since 1956. Meagher was quoted then as saying: ”They’re never going to get my permission to move her.”

See also:

• Beyond Fernald, column by Adrian Walker in the Boston Globe.
• Why the Fernald center should close, op-ed by Mary Ellen Mayo and John Nadworny in the Boston Globe
  

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under housing, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities. 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.