State listens to complaints about school's downsizing
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 7:39 AM PDT
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleLACEY, Wash. -- The "downsizing" of the state-run Fircrest School is devastating the severely disabled residents who have been moved to other schools or group homes, relatives and guardians said Tuesday.
They spoke at a meeting on a rule change that would allow the Department of Social and Health Services to continue transferring Fircrest residents without formal hearings and without permission from parents or guardians.
"Each one of them has suffered and continues to suffer from the trauma of their forced relocation," said Jim Hardman, an attorney and guardian for five residents who have been moved from Fircrest, in northern King County, to the Rainier School in Pierce County. "These proposed rules are a critical stretch of track in the railroading of (Fircrest) residents."
The Legislature ordered DSHS last year to start moving some residents out of Fircrest, in an effort to save money by consolidating the state's five institutions for the developmentally disabled. In the past year, 44 of Fircrest's 250 residents have transferred to other institutions or group homes, and the state has eliminated 59 of the 740 jobs at the school.
Linda Johnson, an official at the DSHS Division of Developmental Disabilities, said the state's quality assurance experts have visited all relocated residents, observing them and interviewing their caregivers. She said all are "doing well."
"There have been some adjustment periods," Johnson said. But after the severely disabled residents adjust to the new situation, she said, "They are doing fine."
Hardman and other parents and guardians of Fircrest residents strongly disagreed. He said the move has set some residents back years, causing them to regress or get hostile.
One woman who was moved against the recommendation of her therapeutic team has become incontinent and started tearing her clothes, Hardman said. A usually cooperative and gentle man punched a Rainier staff member in the face during his daily grooming, Hardman said. Another middle-aged, severely retarded man has "become unglued" since relocating to Rainier, he said, and keeps wandering off.
"My hunch is he's looking for his home in Fircrest," Hardman said.
The old state regulations allowed DSHS to move residents only for their own welfare, the welfare of other residents or at the request of the resident or legal guardian. The new rule allows the state to move residents because their institution is being closed or partially closed. The state put the new rule into effect on an "emergency" basis on Dec. 29, so officials could start moving residents out of Fircrest. Tuesday's hearing was to gather public comment before the rule takes effect permanently.
Besides Fircrest in Shoreline, the state runs four other institutions for the developmentally disabled: Rainier in Buckley, the Yakima Valley School in Selah, the Frances Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton and Lakeland Village in Spokane. About 1,000 people live at the five schools, down from a high of about 4,000.
Several relatives of severely disabled adults spoke passionately about their fears that DSHS will uproot and move vulnerable Fircrest residents.
"I will not sit back and allow undue harm to happen to my sister," said Maureen Durkan of Seattle, who changed jobs so she could work near her retarded sister's institution. "Fircrest is Sharon's home... She is safe at Fircrest."
Susan Barrett of Poulsbo said her 27-year-old son, who functions at roughly a 6-year-old's level, recently asked her, "Mom, are they gonna close my town?"
Barrett said she told him, "Not if I can help it."
At the hearing, Barrett asked DSHS officials to consider how they would feel if the state declared their street "closed" and forced them to move to Alaska.
"My son's rights are being stomped on," she said. "We need to be able to have input as to where he lives."
Just before the hearing ended, Consuela Frodsham of Shoreline raised her hand and asked to speak. Everyone leaned forward to hear the diminutive woman describe what happened to her disabled adult son when he moved from Fircrest to a group home earlier this year.
"He was a very quiet boy, no problems," she said in a near-whisper. "Now he is not my son anymore."
She said the group home is a good place, with nice people, but her son has started beating himself in the head since he moved there. He also started tearing his clothes with his teeth, she said, and pulled several battered T-shirts from a wrinkled yellow plastic grocery bag.
"Who is the mother who can look at that?" Frodsham said, as the sharply ripped shirts dangled from her hands. "I just can't stand it anymore."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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