Many developmentally disabled adults living in group homes in northern Michigan will soon be looking for a new place to live.
Their advocates are protesting new guidelines that could force them out of the homes where they live, work and socialize. But the agency making the changes says that due to budget cuts, their hands are tied.
Jake Rossi’s 22-year-old son, Brady, has already received a notice that he’s no longer eligible for funding to stay in his home. Last year, Brady Rossi, who is developmentally disabled, did what a lot of people his age do – he moved out of his parents’ home. He now lives at a group home in Traverse City.
Jake Rossi said the group home is the perfect place for his son. Brady gets to be social with his peers and he’s learning new life skills. But he also gets the 24-hour supervision that he needs.
A change in the rules
Rossi found out last month that Northern Lakes Community Mental Health will no longer pay for him to live at the group home.
“I felt immediately like I was being deceived,” said Rossi. “I said basically what I’m saying now. Brady’s status hasn’t changed from last year. Something at Community Mental Health has changed and I want to know why.”
What’s changed is the way Northern Lakes assesses clients like Brady. Jake said he doesn’t understand how exactly the new assessments are done.
And apparently, a lot of people are confused. More than 100 family members and care providers gathered at a meeting this week to discuss the cuts.
Susan Onan is director of BrickWays, the non-profit that runs the group home Brady Rossi lives in. She organized the public meeting.
“We have a group of people that we love and we care about who are being affected by recent decisions in a negative light,” said Onan.
'Total hyperbole'
Onan said some providers in the area will have their funding cut by nearly half and many people like Brady Rossi – who receive what’s called Specialized Residential Services – will be forced out of their homes. She says that number could reach 80 percent or more.
Karl Kovacs, CEO of Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, said that number is way off base.
“That is just total hyperbole and exaggeration and fear mongering,” he said.
Kovacs said only 42 of the annual assessments have been done so far using the new guidelines. Of those 42, he says only three have been found to no longer need Specialized Residential Services. He does expect that about 40 percent of all Northern Lakes clients will see some kind of reduction in services over the next year.
The reason why is budget cuts.
“We were cut about $3.5 million in general fund dollars and we were cut by about $1.5 million in Medicaid dollars,” said Kovacs.
Northern Lakes had to lay off 15 of its own employees and cut payments to service providers. They’ve also turned their attention to people receiving these residential services.
Options for Brady
Kovacs would not speak directly to Brady Rossi’s case but he says someone like Brady – who no longer qualifies for Specialized Residential Services – still has options.
“If they still need supervision – if they still can’t live on their own – then an adult foster care program would be an option,” he said.
Adult foster care is a step down from a group home. Brady would still get supervision but not the round-the-clock kind that he gets now. Jake Rossi said that’s just not good enough.
“Brady does not have enough life experience to … evaluate the intentions of others,” said Rossi. “If somebody … knocked on his door and said, ‘Hey, we are here to fix your heat,’ I have almost 100 percent certainty that he would let them in, regardless of whether his heater was working or not … because he just doesn’t have the decision-making ability to make good decisions and advocate for his own safety.”
Another option for Brady would be to move back home with his parents. But Jake Rossi said that wouldn’t be the best thing for him, either.
“Sad as I am about it, I’m not going to live forever and he’s going to have to make a transition,” he said. “We’ve worked really hard to get him into a social situation that he’s comfortable with and … I don’t see how Community Health can take care of their budgetary problems at the expense of the most vulnerable people in our community.”
Rossi is appealing Northern Lake’s decision to the Michigan Department of Community Health and in the meantime, BrickWays is paying for Brady to stay.