Indiana - Parents told to leave disabled kids at shelters

[ensho]

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101027/NEWS02/310270131/Parents+told+to+leave+disabled+kids+at+shelters


Indiana's budget crunch has become so severe that some state workers have suggested leaving severely disabled people at homeless shelters if they can't be cared for at home, parents and advocates said.

They said workers at Indiana's Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services have told parents that's one option they have when families can no longer care for children at home and haven't received Medicaid waivers that pay for services that support disabled children living independently.

Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for the Family and Social Services Administration, the umbrella agency that includes the bureau, said suggesting homeless shelters is not the agency's policy and workers who did so would be disciplined.

However, that's exactly what Becky Holladay of Battle Ground, Ind., said a bureau worker told her when she called to ask about the waiver she's seeking for her 22-year-old son, Cameron Dunn, who has epilepsy, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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“We're talking about youth that absolutely require services, and no one is willing to fund them anymore,” Dalton said.
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how cruel

[HillbillyBob]

1. How cruel indeed. Long term hiv survivor and having a sick deja vu

nt

[burnsei sensei]

2. It seems that the so-called social safety net

is getting bigger & bigger holes in it.