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Principles
for Addressing the
Restructuring of
Services and
Supports for
State
Development
Centers
(Adopted April
17, 1999)
Recent assessments of the physical and programmatic
conditions at California’s
state operated institutions for people with developmental disabilities, the
developmental centers, have disclosed substantial deficiencies endangering
the 3900 developmental center residents.
Additionally, the labeling of developmental enter residents as
“forensic” has expanded and the conditions for these “forensic” label
residents have become unduly restrictive.
All people with developmental disabilities have the
right to be safe and to have access to appropriate services and supports
wherever they live. Under the
Lanterman Act, people with developmental disabilities have the right to
individualized planning and to live in appropriate, quality, integrated
community homes. PAI staff shall work
to ensure that the State takes steps to protect these rights as further set
forth in the principles below.
PAI’s current Advocacy Services Plan includes the goal
to: work with people with developmental disabilities to increase their
opportunities to live in integrated community living arrangements that
promote dignity, freedom and choice.
There is also an objective to: develop and implement strategies to
clarify the right of state developmental center residents placed through the
criminal justice system to receive appropriate and necessary Lanterman Act
services.
The following principles regarding the restructuring of
services and supports for developmental center residents will guide PAI staff
in advocating for the Department of Developmental Services (DDS)
to prepare and implement a strategic plan for providing services and support
to current developmental center (DCs) residents and in participating in
related state policy-making and legislative activities.
1. Individuals
with developmental disabilities who live in DCs, including those who are
placed due to their involvement with the criminal justice system, have a right
to appropriate, individualized supports and services, to be safe and healthy,
and to the protection of their civil rights.
2. Individuals
with developmental disabilities should not be labeled as “forensic” and
placed in highly restrictive living arrangements based on overbroad or vague
characteristics, especially characteristics that can or do discriminate
against people on the basis of race, language or personal appearance. DDS
policies used to determine who should live in a highly restrictive DC unit
must be based on individualized assessment and provide for the least
restrictive conditions necessary.
3. The physical
conditions of all DC units should be conducive to habilitation and treatment
and enable services and supports to be provided which promote independence,
normalization and productivity.
Security measures should be limited to those truly necessary to
protect DC residents and staff and the surrounding community, and should not
create a punitive or prison-like environment.
4. DDS,
based upon the values articulated in the Lanterman Act and the structural and
programmatic condition of the DCs, should evaluate the development of
community alternatives before committing massive resources to extensive
physical renovation, programmatic restructuring or complete replacement of
the existing DCs.
5. Individuals
with developmental disabilities -- including individuals who are medically
involved, dually diagnosed, have severe behavioral challenges, and/or are
labeled severely or profoundly retarded -- have a right to appropriate,
quality, safe and adequately funded community living arrangements designed to
meet their individual needs. In order
to prevent “dumping”, the system should ensure that individuals moving from
developmental centers have adequate and appropriate living arrangements, and
services and supports (including transition supports) in place at the time of
the move.
6. To the extent
that community living arrangements are considered for current DC residents,
such living arrangements should, whether owned and operated privately or by
the State, have certain essential features including:
• individual design
through the person-centered program planning process;
• high quality
services and supports which promote choice and dignity, ensure health and
safety, and involve consumers in meaningful activities which promote
independence, community inclusion and productivity;
• the ability to
live near family and friends;
• access to medical,
dental, and mental health care;
• small homes which
are integrated into regular neighborhoods; and,
• the option of
living in one’s own home with flexible supports as necessary.
• staff who are well
trained and fairly compensated to meet the needs of each individual and
provide quality services.
7. DC staffs’
unique areas of expertise (e.g., psychopharmacology, dental care, production
and maintenance of adaptive wheelchairs) should be made available to all
individuals with developmental disabilities and be available at locations
which are geographically accessible to individuals with developmental
disabilities and their families.
8. Funding and
supports for individuals with developmental disabilities should be provided
equitably. Per-capita funding should
not be higher for individuals with the same or similar needs when the state
provides the service, as compared to when the services are provided by a
non-governmental entity. Resources for
affordable housing should be increased for persons with very low and low
income, and should include project and tenant-based subsidies. When a resident leaves the DC for the
community, full funding should follow the person.
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