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| What next for people in facilities being closed? |
| By businessweek.com - CHRISTOPHER WILLS and CARLA K. JOHNSON |
| Published: 09/09/2011 |
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Amid all the politics and number-crunching, Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to close a mix of state prisons and institutions for mentally ill and developmentally disabled people raises a basic question: What happens to all the residents of those soon-to-be-shuttered facilities? The Quinn administration offered no details Thursday. The changes will be handled responsibly over a period of months, aides promised, while avoiding questions about what they plan or what money is available to make the changes. Advocates for people with developmental and mental problems greeted Quinn's announcement cautiously. Many want more residents moved out of institutions and into state-financed community housing, but they fear that a bungled transition could leave vulnerable people without care. "Those of us who lived through the deinstitutionalization of the `70s and `80s are terrified people will be abandoned," said Ben Wolf, an attorney with American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. The ACLU was among groups that filed three class-action lawsuits against the state, all now settled, involving housing for disabled adults. Read More. |
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