Neighbors fear new group home residents
November 15th, 2008
From the New York Times:
Neighbors of a group home in Eastchester, NY, are protesting a plan that would bring in young men with developmental disabilities when the current residents move to a residence better suited to elderly care.
The four men and three women who currently live in the home faced objections when they moved in fourteen years ago, but have been successfully integrated into the community. Those residents are now aging and require more assistance, so the Westchester Jewish Community Services wants to replace them with six men in their 20s and 30s. Plans call for the men to be supervised by a staff of about 18.
Neighbors say they worry that the younger men could wander and put children at risk for being molested, accosted, or bothered.
The agency has been through this kind of tumult with almost every one of its 12 group homes in Westchester, which accommodate a total of 85 men and women. And according to Dale Wang, the agency’s director of community relations, in 30 years the agency has not had a single serious case of harm to a neighbor.
“People are afraid of what they don’t know,” she said.
… Steven R. Yellen, the agency’s assistant executive director, said mentally retarded people, like everyone else, have a right to live where they choose.
See also earlier post: Disability history collection a reminder of shared trauma
Includes footage of a news report from 1982, in which correspondent Geraldo Rivera documents an arson attack on a planned group home for adults with intellectual disabilities in nearby Long Island. Neighbors had expressed worries about the safety of their children. An excerpt:
“These ruins are all that’s left of a home designed to provide a community residence for ten retarded adults. Anger, ignorance and arson destroyed their dream. Plans are being made to rebuild but plans must also be made to educate the public about groundless fear and misguided prejudice.”
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on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 1:56 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, group homes, history, intellectual/developmental disabilities, public attitudes, stigma, violence.
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January 30th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I work in a group home. In many ways, its the most rewarding work (not financially) I’ve ever done. I wrote a brief synopsis of normal life at our home:
http://tinyurl.com/d77n4e
November 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
In the early 80s, my husband and I moved next door to a group home of 4-5 adult males and befriended them (as their caretakers) as we would any neighbor living next door.
I can tell you that relatives and friends were a little uneasy with the situation deeming it unsafe in some cases. For example, one time my sister-in-law became quite upset about the “pacing” behaviors demonstrated by one of the men who came out on the deck to get some sun while we were having a Mother’s Day BBQ.
I assured her that one of the many benefits of living next door to a group home was the 24 security detail of social workers and health aid staff coming and going many of whom we already knew on first name basis.
Needless to say, I learned that the only real handicap or disability these people face are the attitudes, bias, and prejudice of people who clearly do not want to take the time to get to know them.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:05 am
When my son was a sprout, I wrote letters in support of group homes being built in our neighborhood and nearby cities so that he could live in the community where he grew up as an adult. After a great deal of neighborhood input and compromises, a lovely home was built just a few blocks from our house.
It still moves me to this day to remember that when only a few of the adult sons and daughters of the parents who advocated for these opportunties became residents, one mother told me that we must have compassion for those who were living in institutions, who filled most of the resulting vacancies. I believe several sets of long-time friends were able to be roommates in the new group home, so they were not torn away from everyone they knew and sent to a neighborhood and living situation they had not experienced until then. These opportunties transform lives.
I was shocked to read about the protests of neighbors who felt that the residents with developmental disabilities would be more of a threat than men who disguised themselves as decent human beings but victimized children and other vulnerable individuals for years before being caught.
People with developmental disabilities deserve to live in their own neighborhoods when they become adults. Even people who are released from prison have that right.
I wonder if the protest is in part because all the new residents will be men, when those moving on were a mixed gender group?
I’m glad they did become well integrated in the community while they were there. It must be a difficult transition for those moving out, too, and I hope that they are able to stay together with friends.
November 16th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I am surprised that agencies that serve disabled individuals are still using that “group home” model. Why so many adults living in one house? I thought the trend was to be a bit more realistic which includes single apartments or condominiums with one or 2 people. I can’t imagine that adults would actually choose to live in a house with so many other adults, sounds like dorm living to me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the dorms in college as a teen and as a YOUNG, 20 something adult but as I got older….don’t think so. Do these agencies really think adults in the real world live in “group homes”?