State pledges better care for disabled

Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Friday called for swift reforms in the state's care system for people with developmental disabilities, and key Oregon lawmakers said they would make the issue a priority in February's special legislative session.

The push comes after The Oregonian reported that at least one of every five adult clients in state-licensed foster or group homes have been victims of serious abuse or neglect since 2000, the year the state closed its primary residential institution for the developmentally disabled, the Fairview Training Center in Salem.

"We are going to look into what's possible in terms of responding to the issues raised in the story," Kulongoski said in a statement. "The goal in moving people out of Fairview was to ensure they have better care, and we need to do everything we can to make sure that happens."

Advocacy groups also turned up the political heat, writing to lawmakers and demanding a meeting with state Department of Human Services officials to determine what can be done to reduce the frequency of abuse in the system.

The state cares for about 4,200 adults with conditions such as autism, mental retardation and cerebral palsy in 1,100 group and foster homes across the state. They are among 16,000 developmentally disabled Oregonians who receive various state services.

Oregon Department of Human Services Director Bruce Goldberg said that Kulongoski asked him to "accelerate our timeline" on putting together a computerized registry to identify abusive caregivers and deny them employment.

The state originally planned to study the issue and ask for funding at the next regular legislative session in 2009.

"We're going to be working with the Legislature to do that in February," Goldberg said.

Unlike more than half of all states, Oregon does not use a registry to track caregivers with a record of abuse or neglect.

More than 2,000 abused

The Oregonian found that in the seven years since Fairview closed, more than 2,000 developmentally disabled adults were victims of abuses ranging from neglect of medical needs to rape, beatings, thefts, verbal harassment and improper restraints.

At least 14 residents died after workers failed to provide necessary care.

The newspaper found that many workers in the system receive little training, are reluctant to call 9-1-1 in a medical emergency and get little oversight from overburdened caseworkers, who must manage clients and police the system at the same time.

In the vast majority of abuse and neglect cases, state-paid care providers were responsible.

The newspaper identified more than 200 caregivers who investigators found had committed more than one case of abuse. State officials said that had a caregiver registry been in place, 74 of them would have been barred from employment.

Stiffer penalties planned

In addition to speeding up the registry, Goldberg said the agency also plans to increase the fines and civil penalties for group and foster home operators who abuse or neglect clients.

Goldberg said his agency would support a bill -- not yet drafted -- to require the state to notify clients, their case managers and guardians once an abuse is substantiated in their group or foster home.

"I take very seriously our responsibility to care for folks with developmental disabilities," he said.

Lawmakers pledged to take up the issue in next year's special session.

Rep. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, vice chairwoman of the House Human Services and Women's Wellness Committee, said she will work to bring forward proposals in the coming weeks. Gelser, who has a developmentally disabled child, said she supports a registry but also wants to improve recruiting and training.

Nearly seven in 10 group home workers leave their jobs within the first year. The high turnover creates higher costs for recruiting and training replacements, and studies have shown it contributes to abuse.

The average pay for a direct-care worker in Oregon is less than $10 an hour.

Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, chairwoman of the Human Services and Women's Wellness Committee, called The Oregonian's report, which contained detailed accounts of two group and foster home residents who died after neglect by caregivers, "appalling and nauseating -- that our most vulnerable people are being treated like this.

"We're all committed to moving as quickly as we can," she said.

House Majority Leader Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, said there is ample time before lawmakers meet to work up a legislative package.

It was not immediately clear whether the solution would include more money. The state now pays group and foster home providers about $134 million a year.

Earlier this year, lawmakers approved a $20 million increase primarily to boost caregiver wages. Providers had lobbied for three times that amount.

Advocates ready

Advocates for people with developmental disabilities this week positioned themselves to be part of any legislative action.

At an emotional meeting Tuesday, nearly two dozen members of the Oregon Developmental Disabilities Coalition, a statewide network of disability groups, discussed what could be done to make the system safer.

The coalition later called for a special meeting with DHS officials "to basically to go over all of the systems issues that were raised" by The Oregonian's report, said Bill Lynch, who runs a federal and state-financed group, the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities, charged with advocating for people in the system.

Lynch said the persistence of abuse and neglect since Fairview closed is a wake-up call not only for state officials and lawmakers, but advocates as well.

"I just feel such a sense of personal failure," Lynch said. "We all need to own this problem."

Judy Cunio, the Self Advocacy Coordinator for the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities, said the state needs to take action.

"I'm feeling very emotional," said Cunio, who suffers from cerebral palsy. "As a person with developmental disabilities, I've been around. I've seen and heard about people being mistreated. I've been mistreated myself. I think a lot of the mistreatment happens because people look at us and see an easy target."