Parents told to leave disabled kids at shelters

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana's budget crunch has become so severe that some state workers have suggested leaving severely disabled people at homeless shelters if they can't be cared for at home, parents and advocates said.

They said workers at Indiana's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services have told parents that's one option they have when families can no longer care for children at home and haven't received Medicaid waivers that pay for services that support disabled children living independently.

Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for the Family and Social Services Administration, the umbrella agency that includes the bureau, said suggesting homeless shelters is not the agency's policy and workers who did so would be disciplined.

However, that's exactly what Becky Holladay of Battle Ground, Ind., said a BDDS worker told her when she called to ask about the waiver she's seeking for her 22-year-old son, Cameron Dunn, who has epilepsy, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"We are people and they are people," she told members of the General Assembly's Commission on Developmental Disabilities on Tuesday. "They have lives that are worth something."

The commission's chairwoman, Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, said she's heard similar stories from other witnesses who were told they could abandon their children. She scolded Julia Holloway, the director of FSSA's Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services.

"We've got to stop telling people that they have to take their children to a homeless shelter," Klinker said after Holloway testified on another topic.

Rep. Suzanne Crouch, R-Evansville, said she found it "deplorable that people are being told to go to a homeless shelter."

Kim Dodson, associate executive director of The Arc of Indiana advocacy group, speculated the suggestions result from frustration among BDDS staff. Families have become more outspoken in complaining about waiting for waivers -- waiting lists had more than 20,000 names last month -- and upset that FSSA has reduced services as Gov. Mitch Daniels has cut its budget. The Arc says cuts since July have eliminated 2,000 waiver slots.

"It is something we are hearing from all over the state, that families are being told this is an alternative for them," Dodson said. "A homeless shelter would never be able to serve these people."

The pressure is being felt elsewhere, too. Daunna Minnich of Bloomington said Indiana Department of Education funding for residential treatment for her 18-year-old daughter, Sabrina, is due to run out Sunday. Officials at Damar Services Inc. of Indianapolis have told Minnich that unless she takes Sabrina home to Bloomington, the agency will take her to a homeless shelter.

Minnich said Sabrina, who's bipolar and has anxiety attacks, has attempted suicide, run away during home visits and threatened her older sister. She said bringing Sabrina home isn't a viable option, and the two group home placements BDDS offered weren't appropriate for Sabrina's needs.

"I don't want to see the state of Indiana hasten her demise by putting her in a one-size-fits-all solution that will drive her to desperate acts," Minnich said.

Jim Dalton, Damar's chief operating officer, said he could not comment directly on any specific case, but said Damar would never leave a client at a homeless shelter, even as it finds itself stuck with some who've aged out of school-funded services but haven't received waivers for services.

"I don't think it's fair at all that a private service provider be where the buck stops -- and that in many cases appears to be what is happening," Dalton said.

He acknowledged the budget crunch facing the state and said Damar had good working relationships with the Indiana Department of Education and Holloway's agency, but the company could not keep providing care free of charge.

"We're talking about youth that absolutely require services, and no one is willing to fund them anymore," Dalton said.