Fw: Florida - Developmentally disabled face new cuts from the state

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Florida - Developmentally disabled face new cuts from the state

August 6, 2011 Eve Samples TCPalm

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/aug/06/eve-samples-developmentally-disabled-face-new/

There was a time when we cared for the developmentally disabled in an out-of-sight,-out-of-mind manner.

We shipped them to state institutions and sat them in sheltered workshops.

It wasn't humane, it wasn't cost-effective — and that's why Florida and other states started moving away from that approach in the 1970s.

Ed Kotch fears we are headed back to those days.

Nobody in Tallahassee would ever put it that way, of course, but the numbers tell an alarming tale in the case of Kotch's daughter, .

Before we get to that, a bit about her.

is a 31-year-old who wears her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. When she is particularly happy, which is often, she claps her hands and her hair swings from side to side.

was born with brain defects that caused major developmental delays. She had a paralyzing stroke when she was 13 months old, and though she recovered enough to start walking, she still cannot read and her speech is severely impaired.

Despite all of that, spends five days a week volunteering at County's Clerk of the Circuit Court office and Jensen Beach-based STS Aviation Group — work that earned her a Jefferson Award last year.

A paid companion accompanies to work while Ed and his wife are at their own jobs, giving their daughter a level of independence that she loves. Her companion, Carolyn Hancock, is covered through a plan that is developed and funded by the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities.

Before 2008, the state covered 's plan for companion services and other care at $42,000 a year.

As of Aug. 1, it has dropped to $18,000, according to Kotch.

"I would like to see how many of our state and local politicians have taken a 57 percent cut in pay," said Ed Kotch, who sits with me on the board of directors of the nonprofit ARC of County. The ARC serves developmentally disabled people.

Ed tried to be flexible. The Kotch family agreed to eliminate services including speech therapy.

But the final straw came Aug. 1, when the Agency for Persons with Disabilities announced it would cut the rate for one-on-one companions from more than $10 an hour to $6.72.

That's less than minimum wage — an amount that companion workers are permitted by federal law to be paid, a spokeswoman for the Agency for Persons with Disabilities told me.

But Ed can't find a competent companion for his daughter who will work for that amount, and needs one-on-one attention when she is working.

He sees the cuts as an attempt to push people like into group settings, where companions can earn higher wages.

"This is how they're putting the smokescreen up," Kotch said.

The Agency for Persons with Disabilities has overspent its budget year after year, as more disabled people have been served while funding stayed flat. The agency was $170 million over its $805 million budget last year, and Gov. Rick responded by slashing provider reimbursement rates April 1. Public outcry prompted him to reverse the order two weeks later.

But as Kotch's case shows, the crisis is far from over.

The recent companion rate cut, which is expected to save the state $17 million, is part of an attempt by APD to stay within its budget at the outset of the year.

"We were told by the Legislature and the governor's office that you are a state agency, and you are expected to abide by state law ... and live within the appropriation," APD spokeswoman Etters said.

Jo Hempel, whose 31-year-old son has autism, is concerned the rate cuts will impact his ability to work. He has a paid job, and he needs the one-on-one companion while he is there.

"It's really hard to find, even at the rates they had, people you can trust your disabled loved one with," said Hempel, who is chief deputy clerk in the office where works.

Then there's the financial impact to the companies that provide companion services. 's companion works with a mom-and-pop business called Pathway to Independence.Jeff Hancock, who operates the business, told me he has lost five out of 13 clients because of rate cuts that APD has implemented in the last two months.

He also lost $1,400 in income during the two weeks that Gov. 's rate cuts were in effect.

"I'm driving a 12-year-old car with a check-engine light on for two years — $1,400 would go a long way for me," Hancock told me.

He hopes his business will stay afloat.

If it doesn't, will Gov. count those lost jobs against the 700,000 he has promised to create?