Homeless Shelters Suggested As Option For Adults With Disabilities, Parents Say

[The Straight Story]

Homeless Shelters Suggested As Option For Adults With Disabilities, Parents Say

Some Indiana state workers suggested dropping adults with developmental disabilities at homeless shelters if they cannot be cared for at home, state legislators were told this week.

That’s one option Becky Holladay says she was given for her son Cameron, 22, who has autism, intellectual disability, epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Though Holladay and her family thought Cameron was on a state waiting list for the Medicaid waiver since 1996, she recently learned that his name was never added.

“My comment was, what are we to do? And the voice on the other end of the phone said, ‘take him to a homeless shelter and drop him off,’” Holladay testified before the Indiana Commission on Developmental Disabilities on Tuesday. “That’s my child. I have raised him. I refuse to take him to a homeless shelter.”

Holladay’s account was not the first of its kind. One state lawmaker said it was the fourth such story she’d heard while sitting on the commission.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/10/28/homeless-shelter/10931/

[dkf]

1. Why is she kicking him out?

Forget how she can leave him in a homeless shelter. How can she leave him anywhere?

[bettyellen]

2. perhaps she needs some free time so she can work and not end up homless?

[billlll]

3. some disab'ed need attendants all nite as well as all day

Thus not at home.

[dkf]

5. What was she doing all this time?

Dont disabled kids get SSI?

[PA Democrat]

7. He was probably in school during the day until he turned 22.

Kids with severe disabilities can receive educational services through their 21st birthday. The problem is that funding for programs for adults is inadequate in most places and there are waiting lists that are often years long.

[JanMichael]

6. I didn't see anything in this article that suggested he was being

kicked out.

I think the woman needs help. I don't think she is abandoning her adult child.

[Hannah Bell]

8. she's not, but nice straw.

[dkf]

11. Hmm further reading says she declined a group home or institutionalized care.

I don't see how leaving him in a car outside the father's workplace is so different from leaving him at home. Isn't that more dangerous and how is he supposed to use the bathroom?

Also doesn't SSI provide for disabled kids?

[Skittles]

12. it's an option she was given when she requested help caring for him

[dkf]

13. I finally read the whole article. Sounds like she wants the same services she got through the

Educational system which is pretty darn expensive. So it's not about supervision but specialized professional help. That is even more expensive than a parent who needs help with childcare or a person whose parent needs adult care both of whom may not qualify for help unless they are destitute.

[jillan]

4. Omg - this is horrifying! My heart is in my stomach right now.

What kind of nation are we becoming?

[Cobalt-60]

9. Indiana is a fascist state

take a good look everyone.
If the Pukes get control that will be all 50 states.

[niyad]

10. what a sad commentary on the soul of this country.