From the Washington Post:

Angry at continued reports of substandard care to people with developmental disabilities in the city’s care, two D.C. city council members attacked care providers in a public hearing and criticized the high salaries of their top executives. The president of one company, a well-connected D.C. lawyer, is paid $300,000 annually; others earn more than $200,000.

Council members Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and David A. Catania (I-At Large) said they were tired of hearing excuses from the providers of group housing for approximately 1,200 people with intellectual disabilities.

“You either have to come up with a strategy to [improve] or get out of business, because you cannot provide substandard care,” Wells told several of the providers who appeared at the hearing.

A federal judge last year found that city officials had failed the people with developmental disabilities in its care; a subsequent report by a court monitor in May said these people “remain at very serious risk.”

Editor’s note: The Washington Post won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for two series on D.C. group homes by Katherine Boo: Invisible lives: D.C.’s troubled system for the retarded; and Invisible deaths: The fatal neglect of D.C.’s retarded.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

An agreement between Georgia and the federal government announced this week will help move Georgians with intellectual disabilities and mental illness out of psychiatric hospitals and into community settings such as group homes.

The pact with the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the latest in a series of actions designed to force the state to move people out of institutionalized care and into the community.

If the agreement announced Tuesday is successfully implemented, Georgia, at the very least, would be compelled to significantly boost its spending on community services for individuals with mental or developmental disabilities. Those services in Georgia have consistently been criticized by mental health advocates as severely inadequate.

From the Washington Post:

Dozens of developmentally disabled persons in the District’s care are being moved to new homes after three major care providers decided to stop residential services in the city because they said they were not being paid enough.

Almost 5 percent of the adults in the city’s care — 61 of 1,207 people — have been moved or will be moved by mid-July.

… Care of the developmentally disabled has been a long-running problem for the District, which was sued 30 years ago by advocates for residents in group homes. In March 2007, U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle ruled that the city had failed those residents and called their care “inadequate.”

In May, a federal court monitor reported that “serious deficits” remained in care for the developmentally disabled.

Associated Press on WDAM-TV [New Orleans NBC affiliate] and the [New Orleans] Times-Picayune:

A report released by a non-profit group shows that children in group homes licensed by the state of Louisiana aren’t properly protected, and are placed in facilities that in many cases have been repeatedly cited for safety and health violations.

The Advocacy Center says in its report that children … too often aren’t given the mental health treatment, medical care and protection they should receive.

… Currently, the state has no power to issue civil fines against care providers that fail to meet minimum licensing standards, according to the report. This has led to some homes being cited year after year for similar violations.

Mary Lee Brookshire, 87

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

When Mary Lee Brookshire’s daughter Laura was born with Down syndrome in 1958, doctors advised her to institutionalize her baby. Instead, Mrs. Brookshire brought her daughter home and became an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. “She made a difference because she modeled to other parents of children with Down syndrome that they could live and thrive in the community,” said Mary Yoder, executive director of the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities.

Mrs. Brookshire was active in starting group homes after visiting some private facilities, in which she found people with disabilities kept naked and tied to their beds. “She was just outraged,” said her son, David Brookshire. “She said we treat our pets better than this.”

From the Baltimore Sun:

Families of the residents of Maryland’s Rosewood Center are contesting the plan by Gov. Martin O’Malley to close the 130-year-old institution. They argue that the center’s 150 residents cannot get adequate care elsewhere.

Rosewood Center, a state-run home for people with severe disabilities, has 150 residents, employs 513 full-time staff members, and occupies about 300 acres of prime undeveloped land in Baltimore County. Last year, Maryland’s Office of Health Care Quality reported 130 incidents of “abuse, neglect, mistreatment and injuries of unknown origins” at Rosewood during a two-month period.

The state has promised families assistance in finding placements in community settings such as group homes, but families say a change would be disruptive or dangerous to their loved ones.

“The state can’t do anything with our children unless we agree,” said Harry Yost, whose 52-year-old son, Larry, has lived at the center since he was 6. “We are going through due process. This is where we want our children.”

See earlier posts:

• MD to close Rosewood institution
• Columnist questions wisdom of closing institution
• Rosewood closing announcement prompts controversy
• Sun coverage: Rosewood under scrutiny

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