Michigan: Parents settle lawsuit against school district in dismissed rape case

The parents of an autistic girl have reached a settlement with the girl's school district, Walled Lake Schools in Oakland County, Michigan (northwest of Detroit), in a lawsuit that involved accusations of rape and abuse against the parents that were communicated through facilitated communication (FC, or facilitated typing, as it is sometimes called).
 
Facilitated communication is a largely discredited communication technique, especially when it has been offered as evidence in court cases, where a person who is unable to talk because of severe cognitive disabilities types messages through a facilitator who usually guides or holds the arm of the disabled person. The communications have been shown to be more likely those of the facilitator than the disabled person.

An article in the Detroit Free Press, "Walled Lake Schools to pay parents in dismissed rape case" by John Wisely, 9/16/14, says that the parents, Julian and Thal Wendrow, settled a lawsuit against the school district for $1.1 million, just three weeks before the suit was scheduled to go to trial:

"West Bloomfield police arrested the Wendrows in December 2007 after a school aide helped their autistic daughter, who can't speak, type a statement accusing her father of repeated rapes and her mother of ignoring the attacks. The statement was written using facilitated communication, where the aide guides the child's fingers over a keyboard.

"The method has never been approved for courtroom use and critics insist the aide was the true author of the writings, either consciously or subconciously."

The article further states that, 

"The Wendrows claim their lives have been permanently damaged by the criminal case. Julian Wendrow spent 80 days in the Oakland County Jail before prosecutors dropped the charges for a lack of evidence.

"Thal Wendrow spent five days in jail before being released with an electronic monitoring device attached to her leg.

"When they were arrested, their daughter, then 14, was taken into protective custody. The couple's son, then 13, was interrogated by a detective who tried to get him to confirm the rape accusations by saying police had videotape of his father raping his sister."

The family has collected $3.75 million so far in settlements with the school district, the West Bloomfield Police, and the Michigan Department of Human services. A trial against the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office is set to begin on October 8, 2014.

Here are more troubling facts about this case:

• There was no physical evidence that a rape had taken place.
• The prosecution and the judge in the case accepted the girl's statements through FC as valid even though she functioned at the level of a two-year-old and did not talk. Even the prosecution's witness called to defend FC as a valid form of communication, did not believe the girl's charges and had warned the prosecution that her statements should be validated independently.
• The girl's brother was interviewed by the police without notifying his guardian and without a parent or attorney present.
• The primary objection to FC is that the communication is usually that of the facilitator and not the person who is being facilitated. The court still treated the girl's statements as evidence of a crime, reliable enough to have the father thrown in jail for 80 days.The case was dismissed after the girl was unable to answer even simple questions when her facilitator could not hear the questions being asked.
• When the case was dismissed, the prosecution did not admit that they were wrong. Instead they said that the girl refused to testify because she was afraid.

Read more about Facilitated Communication and the case against the parents.

Autism Self Advocates Respond to WP Article on Abuse

The Washington Post reported a crime story on July 21st, 2014, about 22-year-old autistic twins who were found in deplorable conditions in their parents' house in Rockville, Maryland. The twins were locked up at night "in a basement room with no furniture, no working lights and a single comforter on a bare tile floor, according to Montgomery County arrest records." They were discovered when police came to the house on an unrelated matter. The parents were susbsequently charged with abuse and false imprisonment.

As is often the case, when a sensational story such as this one is widely publicized, it sets off further discussion of related and tangential issues. For example, incidents involving mass shootings by people with untreated severe mental illness led to widespread discussion and reflection about society's responsibility to people with mental illness and their families with related appeals to restrict the access to guns by people who are mentally unstable. Discussions and commentary of this type can occur without interfering with the prosecution of crimes or sympathy for the victims.

In this case, many questions emerged from the crime report: What stresses are parents under in taking care of severely autistic adults?  Do they get the help they need and can further tragedy be prevented by assuring access to such help?  Do we as a society have a responsibility for our fellow citizens, both people who have severe disabilities and their family caregivers? In this vein, The Washington Post followed up with another article on 7/26/14, "Coping with adult children's autism, parents may face 'least bad' decisions" by Dan Morse.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a national non-profit organization that "seeks to advance the disability rights movement with regard to autism",  issued a statement on 7/29/14 beginning with, "The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is deeply concerned by both the recent case of abuse in Rockville, Maryland and the Washington Post’s reprehensible article calling the abuse of autistic adults the 'least bad' decision for families."

ASAN further states that,

"While much of our work focuses on the expansion of services and supports to people with disabilities across the lifespan, we emphatically reject and condemn any effort to present inadequate service-provision as the cause of or a mitigating factor in the abuse of people with disabilities by their families…

"People with disabilities deserve the same access to justice and the same freedom from abuse as the non-disabled population. Media narratives that sympathize with those who abuse their children set the stage for future copycat incidents, and make intervention by law enforcement and the broader community less likely. We urge a robust prosecution of John and Janice Land and encourage the Washington Post to review the appropriateness of their recent article justifying the abuse of the Land twins."

The title of The Washington Post article appears to have been inspired by a statement made by the father of another autistic adult who is quoted in the article as saying, "We can't condone their choices,…but it's possible that, in their minds, this was the least bad way to deal with this." Nowhere in the article does anyone condone the abuse of people with autism, but there is empathy with the parents, especially by other parents who are often placed in a position of trying to do more than most people would believe is humanly possible in caring for their children and then continue to do it without help or relief.

That this might be a mitigating factor in sentencing for the parents will be up to the court to decide, but empathy with the parents in this case is not the same as condoning or dismissing what they have done. As far as "future copycat incidents",  I would think that the public humiliation and shame that most people would feel in similar circumstances as this, would be enough to deter parents from doing the same and may even spur families to seek more help and advocate for more attention to factors that may lead to incidents of abuse and neglect. 

Outside of newspaper reports on this case, I know nothing about the parents. They may just be horrible people who deserve no sympathy, or they may have been at the end of their rope, pushed "over the cliff" by circumstances beyond their control, or something in between, but empathy for parents, understanding, and reflection are not equivalent to promoting criminal behavior.

See Adults with Autism "going over the cliff"

Connecticut: Abuse and neglect in residential facilities

Disability Scoop, in an article by Michelle Diamont, "Senator Seeks Federal Probe of Group Homes", 3/6/13, reports that the U.S. Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy has asked for “an immediate investigation into the alarming number of deaths and cases of abuse of developmentally disabled individuals in group homes.”

The article says, "Specifically, Murphy urged Inspector General Daniel Levinson [in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] to focus on the 'prevalence of preventable deaths at privately run group homes across this nation,' citing increased privatization of residential services for those with disabilities in recent years."

It goes on to say, "The senator’s request comes in response to a recent series of articles in the Hartford Courant detailing cases of abuse and neglect of those with developmental disabilities at various residential facilities in Connecticut. The newspaper found that there were 76 deaths of those with developmental disabilities between 2004 and 2010 where officials cited abuse, neglect or medical errors…Murphy indicated that similar reports have emerged in recent years from Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Louisiana and Texas."

This article from the Hartford Courant, "Abuse, Neglect Cited As Factors In Deaths Of Dozens of Developmentally Disabled In State Care" By Josh Kovner, Matthew Kaufmann and Dave Altimari details the Hartford Connecticut Courant's findings in its investigation of abuse and neglect in the state's facilities for people with developmental disabilities, including public and private group homes, nursing homes, and institutions.

According to the article, "The Courant's review of state records associated with the more than 100 deaths revealed systemic flaws in the care of the developmentally disabled, ranging from breakdowns in nursing care to gaps in the training of staff to lapses in agency oversight….

"Developmentally disabled people were scalded to death in bathtubs; were fatally injured in falls while on medication that affected their balance; choked to death on solid food while on ground-food diets; died of illnesses despite showing symptoms for days or even months; and succumbed while being physically restrained...

"In 2001, a Courant investigation of deaths of intellectually disabled people in state care identified 36 cases from 1990 to 2000 in which abuse or neglect played a role in the death. The Courant found more than twice as many cases from 2004 to 2011, despite added oversight by the agency now known as the Department of Developmental Services. Now, budget pressures are further straining a system that many believe has reached its breaking point."

The article includes links to other articles in the series investigating the care of developmentally disabled people in Connecticut.

The VOR Weekly News Update from March 8, 2013 also covers the Disability Scoop story and provides this link to a blog from the Southbury Training School. The blog post urges the state of Connecticut to reconsider its decades-long decision to close admissions to the training school and to see STS as part of the solution to the current crisis in care in Connecticut:

"STS is a critically important state asset.  On its campus are group-home-style residences as well as medical and dental facilities that serve both its own residential population and many people in the community.  Those facilities are staffed by on-site doctors and nurses and by specialists who regularly visit the residents, most of whom have severe and profound levels of intellectual disability and complex medical conditions…

"In response to a court settlement in 2010, the state has stepped up its efforts to encourage guardians to move residents out of STS and into the community-based group-home system.  However, there is currently a waiting list for residential placements in that system that is conservatively estimated at more than 1,000.  There are not enough group homes for people who need them. 

"Anyone who agrees to leave STS will be moved quickly to any open or newly built community-based residence.   But that means that they are moved ahead of many other people developmental disabilities, who may have been waiting for years for a residential placement.

"The result is that ever larger numbers of people are being kept at home with inadequate care or are being placed in nursing homes, which state officials acknowledge do not have the staffing expertise to care for them. "

Vulnerable seniors at risk from paid home caregivers

The VOR Weekly News Update from 9/14/12 reports on a national study: Dangerous Caregivers - Agencies place unqualified, possibly criminal caregivers in homes of vulnerable seniors


According to the Northwestern University News Center, July 10, 2012, "A troubling new national study finds many agencies recruit random strangers off Craigslist and place them in the homes of vulnerable elderly people with dementia, don’t do national criminal background checks or drug testing, lie about testing the qualifications of caregivers and don’t require any experience or provide real training."


The study was published in the July 13 issue of the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.

VOR notes that VOR will encourage the study’s authors to consider a similar study of caregivers for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

*****************
Here is more from the Northwestern University News Center article by Maria Paul:

The author of the study Lee Lindquist, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital is quoted in the article:

“It’s a cauldron of potentially serious problems that could really hurt the senior,” Lindquist said. “These agencies are a largely unregulated industry that is growing rapidly with high need as our population ages. This is big business with potentially large profit margins and lots of people are jumping into it.”

Some of the findings from the study:

• Only 55 percent of the agencies did a federal background check.
• Only one-third of agencies interviewed said they did drug testing - "'Considering that seniors often take pain medications, including narcotics, this is risky,' Lindquist said. 'Some of the paid caregivers may be illicit drug users and could easily use or steal the seniors’ drugs to support their own habits.'"
• Few agencies (only one-third) test for caregiver skill competency - "A common method of assessing skill competencies was 'client feedback,' which was explained as expecting the senior or family member to alert the agency that their caregiver was doing a skill incorrectly."
• Inconsistent supervision of the caregiver.

“'The public should demand higher standards, but in the short term, seniors need to be aware what explicitly to look for when hiring a paid caregiver through an agency,' Lindquist said."

Dr. Lindquist's advice on hiring caregivers:

10 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE HIRING A CAREGIVER

1. How do you recruit caregivers, and what are your hiring requirements?
2. What types of screenings are performed on caregivers before you hire them? Criminal background check—federal or state? Drug screening? Other?
3. Are they certified in CPR or do they have any health-related training?
4. Are the caregivers insured and bonded through your agency?
5. What competencies are expected of the caregiver you send to the home? (These could include lifting and transfers, homemaking skills, personal care skills such as bathing, dressing, toileting, training in behavioral management and cognitive support.)
6. How do you assess what the caregiver is capable of doing?
7. What is your policy on providing a substitute caregiver if a regular caregiver cannot provide the contracted services?
8. If there is dissatisfaction with a particular caregiver, will a substitute be provided?
9. Does the agency provide a supervisor to evaluate the quality of home care on a regular basis? How frequently?
10. Does supervision occur over the telephone, through progress reports or in-person at the home of the older adult?

Abuse and sexual assault of people with DD

This is from the the VOR Weekly News Update for August 17, 2012.  It is about the rape of a developmentally disabled man who lived in a group home in New Mexico.  These are excerpts from an article in the Albuquerque Journal that appeared on February 23, 2010.
 

Larry Selk, who cannot speak or perform daily functions on his own, was raped in 2004 while living in College House, a group home operated by a ResCare's subsidiary in Roswell, New Mexico. The likely perpetrator was a group home employee who had been hastily hired after much of the College House staff was fired for using drugs and there was an urgent need for replacement staff. The man was hired with virtually no background check, which could have discovered problems in his past, and put on the job essentially untrained, according to trial evidence.  

A lawsuit was brought on Selk's behalf by his sister and legal guardian, Rani Rubio, resulted in a jury award of $48 million in punitive damages. Res-Care appealed, resulting in the judge slicing away a significant chunk of a jury's historically high punitive damages award. The punitive damages award was reduced from $48 million to $9.6 million in an order that also denied the company, ResCare Inc., a new trial.  

Second Judicial District Judge Nan Nash found that the punitive damage award was "unreasonable." "While (ResCare's) conduct was reckless, it was not intentional or malicious," Nash wrote in an order filed Friday. Nash left intact the compensatory damages — nearly $1.5 million against ResCare New Mexico and $3.2 million against ResCare Inc.

The ARC of New Mexico filed an Amicus brief in support of punitive awards for abusive providers. (An Amicus brief is a statement submitted by an individual or organization who is not a party to a lawsuit but has been permitted by the court to weigh-in on legal matters related to the case.) Unfortunately, the punitive damages awarded to the disabled man in this case were reduced, but the brief is nevertheless a valuable resource for anyone looking for information on this topic. It is a compendium of sources on abuse, especially sexual assault, on people with disabilities, showing how vulnerable adults are targeted by sexual predators, how crimes against them are under reported and often never reported to law enforcement, and how short staffing and frequent staff turnover in group homes increases the risk of abuse.

These are excerpts from the Amicus Brief:

• p 2: The lives of those with developmental disabilities cannot be improved... unless their lives are first made safe. Unfortunately, the deck is stacked against those with disabilities. Sexual predators see people with disabilities as powerless and vulnerable. Consequently, people with disabilities suffer abuse and rape at much higher rates than the general population.
• p 2: For large-scale providers such as RCI, only substantial punitive damages awards can force them to improve the quality of care they provide to Mr. Selk and others-and thus deter similar injuries in the future.
• p 11: Researchers recognize that high turnover among the staff increases the risk of sexual assault...When service providers fail to provide adequate staff and supervision, it also increases the risk of sexual violence.
• p 12: If a provider is on notice of but fails to correct systemic problems, this demonstrates a fundamental lack of respect for the rights of its residents.
• p14: While the estimates of sexual abuse of developmentally disabled people are staggering, it may only be the tip of the iceberg. As one New Mexico survey found, "[r]ape is significantly under-reported to law enforcement…"
• p 15: … the problem is probably bigger than suspected, the victims even more numerous. And yet, in part because the crimes are not reported, offenders go unpunished, free to commit more crimes-while service providers entrusted with the individuals' care and safety know little risk exists of being held accountable even though their own failures provided opportunity for the crime.
• p 15: Even when victims or their loved ones report sexual assault, the perpetrator usually is not punished.
• p 15 - 16: When society's response to sexual assault is devoid of serious penalties, it increases the perception that people with developmental disabilities are unequal in the eyes of the law.
• p 16: Civil lawsuits against service providers who injure their residents, rather than care for them, play a crucial role in ensuring equal rights and the safety of individuals with disabilities. If we can encourage these providers to fulfill their duty to their residents--or at least deter them from breaching that duty-sexual violence against vulnerable individuals will be reduced.

Preventing abuse with background checks

A small item in today's AnnArbor.com caught my attention as an easy topic for a short blogpost: Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder signed into law two state Senate bills, SB 787 and SB 788, that "amend existing statute to require that criminal background checks are done through the FBI for owners, operators, and certain other workers in adult foster care homes and homes for the elderly." A person who has been found guilty of a felony or who has been found guilty of a misdemeanor in the last ten years for the crime of abuse of a vulnerable adult can be denied a license.  

“We have a responsibility to ensure the best and safest care for Michigan’s elderly,” Snyder said in a statement. “A thorough background check of caregivers ensures only the most dedicated and scrupulous Michiganders work with our vulnerable citizens.”

Here is a brief summary of the bills. The law requires state background checks through the state police, as well as the FBI.

This one little article brings up a lot of questions that I am embarrassed to say I don't have answers for: Does the state require background checks for all direct care workers who work in these homes? What about the proliferation of unlicensed settings where people with developmental disabilities receive care and other services? Are agencies or individuals who provide care in these settings subject to background checks? Are there requirements that local Community Mental Health agencies do background checks on caregivers and others who interact with the DD population? The purpose of background checks is to prevent abuse, but do the laws extend far enough to have a significant effect?
 
I can see I have my work cut out for me. Abuse of severely developmentally disabled adults like my sons is a real and justified fear. At least I know this: it is a crime to abuse a vulnerable adult, "an individual age 18 or over who, because of age, developmental disability, mental illness, or physical disability requires supervision or personal care or lacks the personal and social skills required to live independently." This applies to any caregiver no matter the setting. Anyone found to have abused a vulnerable adult can face criminal penalties including prison and stiff fines. Here is the statute:

THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 328 of 1931
 

750.145n Vulnerable adult abuse; first degree; second degree; third degree; fourth degree; authority to prevent vulnerable adult from being harmed or harming others not prohibited; applicability of section to act carried out by patient advocate.
Sec. 145n.
(1) A caregiver is guilty of vulnerable adult abuse in the first degree if the caregiver intentionally causes serious physical harm or serious mental harm to a vulnerable adult. Vulnerable adult abuse in the first degree is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than $10,000.00, or both.
(2) A caregiver or other person with authority over the vulnerable adult is guilty of vulnerable adult abuse in the second degree if the reckless act or reckless failure to act of the caregiver or other person with authority over the vulnerable adult causes serious physical harm or serious mental harm to a vulnerable adult. Vulnerable adult abuse in the second degree is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.
(3) A caregiver is guilty of vulnerable adult abuse in the third degree if the caregiver intentionally causes physical harm to a vulnerable adult. Vulnerable adult abuse in the third degree is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $2,500.00, or both.
(4) A caregiver or other person with authority over the vulnerable adult is guilty of vulnerable adult abuse in the fourth degree if the reckless act or reckless failure to act of the caregiver or other person with authority over a vulnerable adult causes physical harm to a vulnerable adult. Vulnerable adult abuse in the fourth degree is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(5) This section does not prohibit a caregiver or other person with authority over a vulnerable adult from taking reasonable action to prevent a vulnerable adult from being harmed or from harming others.
(6) This section does not apply to an act or failure to act that is carried out as directed by a patient advocate under a patient advocate designation executed in accordance with sections 5506 to 5515 of the estates and protected individuals code, 1998 PA 386, MCL 700.5506 to 700.5515.

Michigan parents settle lawsuit involving facilitated communication

The parents of an autistic girl settled a lawsuit against the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, police department last month for $1.8 million, according to an article in the Detroit Free Press.

Over three years ago, the father was arrested and accused of raping his 14-year-old autistic daughter based on accusations made through a widely discredited method called facilitated communication (FC). A facilitator, in this case a teacher's aide, guided the girl's hand over a keyboard while the girl supposedly typed out messages accusing her father of raping her repeatedly since she was seven years old. The father spent 80 days in jail and the mother was put on an electronic tether. The girl and her 13-year-old brother who has a milder form of autism were placed in foster care. The police, in a video-taped interview, tried to browbeat the brother into admitting that he too had been molested by his father. He was told that the police had video tapes showing this to be true, a story that turned out to be entirely fabricated.

In a related article, the Free Press reports that the parents' lawsuit against the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, the Walled Lake Consolidated School District and the Michigan Department of Human Services is still under consideration. Although the Oakland County lawyer argues for governmental immunity for his clients, the District Court Judge finds the facts in the case troubling.

The facts are indeed troubling:

• There was no physical evidence that a rape had taken place.
• The prosecution and the judge in the case accepted the girl's statements through FC as valid even though she functioned at the level of a two-year-old and did not talk. Even the prosecution's witness called to defend FC as a valid form of communication, did not believe the girl's charges and had warned the prosecution that her statements should be validated independently.
• The girl's brother was interviewed by the police without notifying his guardian and without a parent or attorney present.
• The primary objection to FC is that the communication is usually that of the facilitator and not the person who is being facilitated. The court still treated the girl's statements as evidence of a crime, reliable enough to have the father thrown in jail for 80 days.The case was dismissed after the girl was unable to answer even simple questions when her facilitator could not hear the questions being asked. 
• When the case was dismissed, the prosecution did not admit that they were wrong. Instead they said that the girl refused to testify because she was afraid.

We may never know the motivation for the actions of the prosecutor's office, the police department, and the school district. At least the parents have some compensation for this travesty that almost destroyed their lives.

Here are earlier posts on this case. MSNBC in 2009 had a blogpost called "Dark shadows loom over facilitated talk" which includes the Michigan case. It also gives a general overview of the origins of FC.

No excuse for violations at Oakland County group homes

This article from The Detroit News, "Repeated violations found at Oakland County group homes", January 10, 2011, is all too familiar. Every year or so a local newspaper features a story about group homes that could just as well have been written last year or the year before that or ten years ago. The story goes something like this: Group home residents live in squalid conditions, are subjected to mistreatment by group home employees, and are neglected to the point where they wander off and get into serious trouble with the police and their neighbors. It is also not unusual for an employee to claim, as happened in this case, that he or she was fired for trying to bring problems to the attention of his or her supervisors.

There are many group homes that provide excellent care and have none of the problems cited in this article. When the best choice for a person is to live in a group home, I think the best care for people with severe developmental disabilities is provided in homes that have strong family involvement and oversight, community support from local churches or other community organizations, and whose management welcomes and encourages this support. What families have to worry about are the many group homes that provide adequate care, but not much in the way of a fulfilling life for their residents and homes that provide neither adequate care nor much of a life for their residents and end up endangering the health, safety, and well-being of the people who live there.

Licensed group homes are operated under strict rules to assure safety and the protection of residents' rights. The caseloads of licensing monitors, however, have been increasing, bringing into question whether monitors can adequately do their job. In addition, administrators in the Michigan Department of Community Health have stated that they want to eventually eliminate group homes as an option for people with developmental disabilities. It is difficult to believe that the State will do much to improve the quality of failing group homes when they would prefer that they disappear.

There are things that families can do to improve the living situation of group home residents.

The first line of defense to protect a resident of a group home is to have a good person-centered plan and service plan that describe in detail all the services the person needs and how they will be delivered. Many problems go back to poor planning. Furthermore the plan of services must take into account the preferences and choices of the resident that are so important for the person's happiness and satisfaction with his or her living situation.

Most of the rights of recipients of mental health services fall under these broad categories listed in the Michigan Mental Health Code:

1. A recipient shall receive mental health services suited to his or her condition.
2. Mental health services shall be provided in a safe, sanitary, and humane treatment environment.
3. Mental health services shall be offered in the least restrictive setting that is appropriate and available.
4. A recipient has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

Any violation of these rights can be reported to the local Recipient Rights Office. In Washtenaw County, Recipient Rights can be reached at (734) 544-3000. Anyone can make a complaint to recipient rights, whether or not you are related to the person involved. As a complainant, you should receive a written response to your complaint, written updates on the progress of the rights investigation, and a written summary of the conclusion of the investigation and the actions that have been taken to correct the situation.

A Rights Complaint form is available here.

Adult Foster Care Licensing provides an extra layer of monitoring and oversight for group homes and deals with the most serious rights violations and safety issues.  These can involve the death of a resident, accidents or illnesses that require hospitalization, displays of serious hostility, self-inflicted harm or harm to others, and destruction of property. Also included in investigations are incidents involving the arrest or conviction of a resident and absence without notice.

If a resident has a guardian, the guardian must be notified in writing within 48 hours of an incident or event that triggers a licensing investigation. A licensing complaint form can be found here. In addition to the complaint form are rules for AFC homes and notice requirements when a complaint has been received.

AFC maintains a Website on licensed group homes. Look for Special Investigation Reports that go beyond routine licensing inspections for information that may indicate serious problems at a group home.

The best and most reliable monitors of group homes are family members and friends who drop in frequently, ask lots of questions, and do not let serious incidents go by without reporting them to the proper authorities.

Former WISD teacher's aide receives probation for mistreatment of autistic student

A former teacher's aide for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Michael Beasley, was sentenced to probation for slapping a special education student in a WISD program for autistic students at Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor. He had already been convicted of another misdemeanor in a related case.

At first, when reports surfaced in 2008 that students had been mistreated by the aide, the WISD investigated and then transferred the aide to High Point School in Ann Arbor. Parents, dissatisfied with the WISD response to the charges, contacted the police who did their own investigation that led to criminal charges against the aide. The Director of Special Education for the WISD at the time resigned and other administrators were reassigned. The aide was fired based on a reinvestigation of the case by the WISD.

As reported by AnnArbor.com on September 8, 2010, the aide pleaded no contest to the charge of slapping a special education student in exchange for dropping a felony charge against him. He was later sentenced to one year of probation for a misdemeanor charge of assault.

According to AnnArbor.com, the mother of the autistic student said her son was hit so hard his face had a red mark for 15 minutes and that allegations from other parents showed a pattern of abuse. She said, "...My son could not communicate this abuse, and you cannot imagine how that made me feel.”

The aide's attorney said the sentence was redundant because Beasley is already on probation through the 15th District Court for a separate but related conviction.

For background information on this case see previous blog entries with links to reports from the Ann Arbor News.

Fraud and abuse in home healthcare for the elderly and disabled

The Boston Globe reports that the Massachusetts Medicaid program has significantly increased spending on home healthcare in the last decade, while reports of fraud, abuse, and neglect have tripled. This raises new concerns about the lack of training, certification, and criminal background checks for personal care attendants as well as minimal oversight for the low-paid healthcare workers.

Federal investigators from the Government Accountability Office have also found rampant abuse in the Medicare home healthcare program for the elderly, including $200 million paid for care that was never provided. Between 2002 and 2006, spending for the program increased 44%, while the number of patients rose by only 17%.

The union representing personal care attendants, the director of the state's Medicaid program, and the Director of the Boston Center for Independent Living defend the program as meeting the demands of consumers who are elderly and disabled as well as being cost efficient.

Bill Henning, from the Boston CIL says,

"This is a program with inherent risks, and we would be happy to overhaul it in a lot of ways. But there's a lot of turnover in this field, and there's a real concern that we could choke off the supply of attendants."

Tom Dehner, the director of the state Medicaid program, is reluctant to increase regulation:

"We believe that consumer control of this program and service is intensely personal...We think consumers are in the best position to direct when and how to receive these services and train people and supervise them."

A woman with severe spastic cerebral palsy who has been bullied, threatened, and intimidated by personal care attendants (she has hired and fired scores of them), thinks otherwise:

"You can never be sure who you hire, and I check all their references...It would be nice, at the least, for the state to allow us to do a free criminal background check."

Aide abuse case counter attack

A Washtenaw Intermediate School District aide who was accused of abusing students in a class for autistic children has filed a lawsuit against the WISD for discrimination and sexual harassment. In the complaint the aide, Michael Beasley, said he believes he was discharged because of his gender and race, which he described as biracial/multiracial, and in retaliation for making complaints.

Beasley has pleaded not guilty to two counts of child abuse.

Abuse charges against a WISD special education teacher's aide

The Washtenaw Intermediate School District operates special education programs in Washtenaw County, Michigan, for students with moderate to severe disabilities. In January 2009, a WISD teacher's aide was arraigned on two counts each of child abuse and assault and battery. He was accused of slapping and shoving two special education students under his care.

The incidents leading to the arraignment were brought to light in October 2008, when parents reported them to the WISD. The WISD conducted an internal investigation and placed the aide on disciplinary leave for failure to follow behavior plans. He was later transferred from Scarlett Elementary School where the incidents occurred to a special education classroom at High Point School. Both schools are in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The parents were not satisfied with the response of the WISD and reported the incidents to the police for investigation. They felt the aide should have been removed from working with children. The charges of child abuse and battery came out of the police investigation.

In December, 2008, William Miller, the WISD Superintendent reopened the investigation and put two administrators on leave.

An internal investigation revealed that the WISD Director of Special Education failed to investigate other allegations that had occurred and told a teacher and teacher's aide to keep quiet and not to document incidents while she investigated them.

In February, 2009, the WISD Director of Special Education resigned under an agreement that she is barred from working for the district again. School district employees who suspect child abuse must report these allegations to the state. The incidents were not reported.

The aide was fired by the WISD and bound over for child abuse charges in February.

Here are links to the coverage in the Ann Arbor News:

Washtenaw Intermediate School District aide charged with child abuse
Posted by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News January 22, 2009 15:59PM

2 WISD administrators placed on leave; district investigating whether child abuse laws followed
Posted by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News January 28, 2009

Ex-school district staffer told others to stay mum, then botched probe of allegedly abusive aide
Posted by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News February 14, 2009

Ex-WISD teacher's aide accused of assaulting students ordered to stand trial
Posted by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News February 18, 2009

WISD special ed chief will be paid until April 30
Posted by David Jesse | The Ann Arbor News February 20, 2009 12:08PM

Investigation Report submitted to the WISD Board of Education, February 10, 2009