The United States has concluded that children at the facility are particularly vulnerable given allegations that CHDC residents are subjected to dangerous medication mismanagement and harmful, unnecessary restraints. In recent years, at least three CHDC residents have died, suffered possible permanent organ damage or been at risk of hemorrhaging to death because of psychotropic medication mismanagement. CHDC also continues to utilize 41 different forms of mechanical restraints on both children and adults, including straitjackets, restraint chairs and papoose boards - practices that have been largely barred from other facilities for years.
"The State has a responsibility to ensure the safety of individuals who reside in state-run facilities, and we must act swiftly when the state does not live up to that responsibility," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division. "Individuals with developmental disabilities have the right to live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, and states must take swift action to ensure that all individuals are accorded these basic rights."
In addition to barring inappropriate restraints and requiring safeguards to prevent dangerous medication practices, the motion seeks to require that the state remove barriers to the provision of supports and services in the community, so that individuals with disabilities, including the approximately 50 children at CHDC, are not forced to choose between an unsafe institution and the denial of necessary services in a more integrated setting.
The proceedings against the State of Arkansas, and against the facility in Conway Arkansas, could have an impact in Canada; including here in New Brunswick. New Brunswick has been examining its residential care system for youths and adults with disabilities for several years but to date very little action has been taken. Approximately five years ago a youth with autism was housed temporarily on the grounds of a youth correctional center at Miramichi pending admission to the Spurwink facility in neighboring Maine. I have, since starting this blog 3 1/2 years ago, received unconfirmed information that an autistic person was essentially living on the floor of a general hospital in Saint John New Brunswick.
I have visited the premises of the psychiatric hospital in Campbellton New Brunswick where persons with autism and disabling mental health conditions currently reside in New Brunswick. It is not a future I want for my son even though the persons running the facility who I met, and who were generous with their time, showing me around the facility, impressed me with their knowledge, compassion and attempts, within the existing system and resources, to care for the residents.
I would rather see my severely autistic son reside in Campbellton once I am deceased than live in a facility lacking properly trained staff and security. But it is not what I want for him. I want very desperately to know that he will live in a secure facility properly staffed and centrally located. A Fredericton location would enable the operators of the facility to more readily access the professional, academic and government resources available in Fredericton and provide residents with access to the community and the wonderful natural environment with which we are blessed in the Fredericton area.
Representations have been made to the Province of New Brunswick from autism community representatives, including me, and from several professionals involved with actually helping autistic youths and adults in New Brunswick, asking the Province to provide a modernized residential care system for autistic youth and adults. The representations have been made formally and informally, directly and through the media, for several years but, to date, there has been no sign of progress.
New Brunswick needs a modernized, secure residential/treatment facility to care for those most severely affected by autism and developmental disorders located centrally in Fredericton where the facility would have access to the professional and academic resources of the Stan Cassidy Center and the University of New Brunswick. For those persons with autism whose abilities permit New Brunswick needs modern, community based facilities in each area of the province.
Hopefully developments in Arkansas will focus attention on the need to take action to provide modernized, residential care facilities appropriate to the needs of autistic children, youths and adults in New Brunswick.
Hopefully.
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Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Justice Department Files for Immediate Relief Regarding Conditions at Conway Human Development Center, in Conway, Arkansas
The Justice Department today asked the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas to take immediate action to prevent children from being admitted to the Conway Human Development Center (CHDC) in Conway, Ark. The department’s motion for preliminary injunction aims to prevent the segregation of children with developmental disabilities in dangerous conditions and to address accusations of imminent and serious threats to the safety of the facility’s more than 500 current residents.
In January 2009, the Justice Department filed a complaint against the State of Arkansas to enforce the federal requirement that individuals with disabilities be served in the most integrated settings appropriate, and to remedy unconstitutional conditions at CHDC. Information collected through discovery since the filing of the complaint has led the department to conclude that residents face increasing and grave risk of harm with each day that deficiencies are ignored, and that Arkansas fails to serve individuals in the most integrated setting appropriate to the residents’ needs.
The United States has concluded that children at the facility are particularly vulnerable given allegations that CHDC residents are subjected to dangerous medication mismanagement and harmful, unnecessary restraints. In recent years, at least three CHDC residents have died, suffered possible permanent organ damage or been at risk of hemorrhaging to death because of psychotropic medication mismanagement. CHDC also continues to utilize 41 different forms of mechanical restraints on both children and adults, including straitjackets, restraint chairs and papoose boards - practices that have been largely barred from other facilities for years.
"The State has a responsibility to ensure the safety of individuals who reside in state-run facilities, and we must act swiftly when the state does not live up to that responsibility," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division. "Individuals with developmental disabilities have the right to live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, and states must take swift action to ensure that all individuals are accorded these basic rights."
In addition to barring inappropriate restraints and requiring safeguards to prevent dangerous medication practices, the motion seeks to require that the state remove barriers to the provision of supports and services in the community, so that individuals with disabilities, including the approximately 50 children at CHDC, are not forced to choose between an unsafe institution and the denial of necessary services in a more integrated setting.
Between June 1, 2007, and Oct. 1, 2009, a CHDC resident was more likely to die than be discharged to a more integrated setting. On average, CHDC residents die at the age of 46.5 years, compared with the average age of 72 years for other individuals with developmental disabilities living in institutional settings. The number of individuals with developmental disabilities who are waiting to receive community-based services is on the rise in Arkansas, with over 1,300 currently waiting to receive services through the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Alternative Community Services waiver program, with an average wait time of approximately two and a half years.
The Civil Rights Division is authorized to conduct investigations under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). CRIPA authorizes the Attorney General to investigate conditions of confinement in certain institutions owned or operated by, or on behalf of, state and local governments. In addition to residential facilities serving persons with developmental disabilities, these institutions include psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, jails, prisons and juvenile correctional facilities. The ADA authorizes the Attorney General to investigate whether a state is serving individuals in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs. Please visit http://www.justice.gov/crt to learn more about CRIPA, the ADA and other laws enforced by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
10-242
Attorney General
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