ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN GROUP HOMES UNCOVERED

There are more and more reports of abuse and neglect of the Disabled in Group Homes being uncovered. Some of the abuses are so extreme and sickening and went on for long periods of time. There has to be better background checks to rule out people with past drug abuse and animal cruelty charges, which in this case was implicated. People or Organizations that run these Group Homes also have to be held accountable if they hire questionable people that have obvious criminal pasts, but hire them anyway. We have to protect our innocent disabled population who are so vulnerable and defenseless.

https://www.wthr.com/article/13-investigates-uncovers-pattern-abuse-neglect-group-homes-disabled

ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Many developmentally disabled kids can't talk and tell you what is happening to them.  Abuse can be very hard to detect.  Responsible parties such as staff and assistants downplay bruises as self-inflicted and investigations often go nowhere with results as “unsubstantiated”. 

It is very easy to cover up these cases because the victim can not speak nor communicate what happened to them.  If they can communicate, often they are not believed due to some extent of mental impairment or distortion of reality.

Cameras should be placed in schools and work programs to monitor any aggression toward disabled victims.

Group Homes do not allow cameras as an invasion of privacy, but if there is cause for concern or suspicion, it should be allowed.

Training should be enforced to encourage any staff working with the disabled population to relieve themselves from the situation if they feel they are too stressed to handle what is happening at the moment. 

The excuse for this not happening is that there is often a shortage of staff for this population of disabled clients.  The workers are often told to make the best of the situation and often it will take time to get relief. 

The schools and facilities should have an alternate plan in place if the worker, Teacher, or Assistant can not handle the stressful situation.

From DHS NJ:  New! The Stephen Komninos’ Law

The Stephen Komninos’ Law was enacted in 2017 and strengthens protections for participants of any New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS) funded, licensed or regulated program for adults with developmental disabilities, including State developmental centers and community programs. The law recognizes the important role of guardians and family members in the lives of adults with developmental disabilities and establishes greater communication links between providers and guardians. Effective May 1, 2018, every person who is employed by or volunteering in any DHS-funded, licensed or regulated program serving adults with developmental disabilities is subject to the requirements of this law.

Placement Horrors for the Developmentally Disabled

Just when I thought I heard everything, I read this horrific news article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for-disabled.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

I also have experienced similar nightmares with my own son who suffers from severe Autism and Crisis Behaviors, but, I was able to rescue my son from these "respite" places before it was too late.

This poor helpless population who suffer from the mental torture of Autism are put into placements where they are brutalized at the hands of ignorant, careless caretakers and former criminals. These poor victims can not even talk to express their plight.

I have witnessed this type of abuse and neglect of my own son in an out-of-state Institution and had to go through hell to pull him out after 3 horrific months of his deterioration.

This is a very extreme and complicated group of disabled people who can not control their emotions. People and Professionals do not understand Severe Autism or why they are this way. From what I have perceived of my own son with this extreme type of Autism is that they are "scared", "afraid to take one step". Their lives revolve around "perfection and order". If anything disrupts this "order", they "lose it".
They can not cope. Drugs often make them much worse.

You have to imagine what they feel. It is very complicated. All their senses are off. The way they hear, see, smell, taste and feel are distorted. They don't feel pain the way others do either. And, as they grow, they try very hard to figure out how to cope. But, almost every time, one bad habit broken turns into another bad habit...it doesn't go away.

So, how can anyone want to hurt someone suffering with the worst imaginable pain, the pain of "Severe Autism"?

Reading that so much money is put into these Institutions by the Billions and they wind up hiring anyone willing to take the job without background checks doesn't seem real. And, to stifle anyone witnessing atrocious abuse is beyond morality and ethics. This is happening in America, not a third world country.

Are we evolving backwards in time? That is what it seems. Our country is deteriorating. We are allowing the most helpless and most vulnerable population of our country to be exposed to abuse and neglect and forced to keep it quiet. The only thing we value is money and not human life. This is not the way it was meant to be.