State declares moratorium on group homes for disabled. Providers say they're 'blindsided.'

[question everything]

Residential Services was just a few months away from opening a new respite home for children in Virginia, Minn., said Jon Nelson, the Duluth agency’s executive director. He’d been working for months with St. Louis County to create a small haven, a place where kids with behavioral or mental health challenges could ease back into the community after hospital stays. The respite home would give beleaguered parents a chance as well to catch their breaths without sending their kids to foster care.

Then the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) pulled the rug out from under him, Nelson said.

On Tuesday, in its ongoing efforts to fight fraud in state programs, DHS announced a two-year moratorium on new group homes for providers of Home and Community-Based Services that allow people with disabilities to live in the community. The ban also applies to new programs run by organizations that already have a license. The moratorium followed a September executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz that directed DHS to take several measures to combat fraud, including a moratorium on new licenses and programs.

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But the moratorium announced this week is an overcorrection, providers say, and their reaction, from Moorhead to Mankato, was swift — and angry. “This comes completely out of the blue,” said Sue Schettle, CEO of the Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota, a group that represents providers and advocates of community-based services for disabled people.

(snip)

State officials on Thursday, however, pushed back. A moratorium was no surprise, DHS officials said in a statement. The Legislature in July gave them the authority to do it and, in August, DHS “provided information about this new authority to all license holders and provider organizations.”

Shannon Bock, executive director of CCRI, a service provider in Moorhead, said the moratorium will hit especially hard in rural areas, which don’t have enough providers to meet client needs. One residential program for people with disabilities has a 50-person waiting list, she said. The waiting list for 24-hour services in the community is 100 people long.

More..

https://www.startribune.com/providers-decry-state-moratorium-for-new-disability-group-homes-programs/601538754

[question everything]

1. And an angry letter blamomg this on Walz

Desperate overcorrection from Walz

Despite what the administration may say, a “moratorium” amounts to a cut in the real world. What alternative do providers and families have? Minnesota has never had a sufficient supply of residential providers. A decade ago, I was asked by DHS to conduct a study on this topic and found that residential options were severely limited and underfunded. Nothing, in my opinion, has changed since. Now, the administration wants to reduce it even further, to make itself look tough in a campaign year.

The public should understand that the term “residential services” is an all-encompassing term, much like “health care.” As the article stated, some young people need transition housing, which has repeatedly been proven effective. Persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities can find freedom and empowerment by living in community settings with peers. Individuals with mental health issues can be treated and helped to regain functioning abilities to become productive citizens, wage earners and taxpayers. Individuals with neurodivergent issues like traumatic brain injury, autism, ADHD, dyslexia and Tourette’s can receive the specialized care they need.

Shall we open up large institutions again, where we know from experience that physical and mental abuse was rampant? Are we going to impose additional hardships on elderly parents who may not have the ability or skills to care for their loved ones? What plans does DHS have after the moratorium ends to restore the services lost? Walz built his original gubernatorial campaign on child care issues. Are adults and children with disabilities not equally important to him, or is that a class of people who can be ignored? Tell us, Walz!

Manfred Tatzmann, Brooklyn Park

https://www.startribune.com/readers-write-somali-minnesotans-walzs-response-to-fraud-northstar-line/601542194

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[OldBaldy1701E]

2. And, here I am wondering if I will even be mobile in a year.

Now this.

Wonderful.