Inclusion Daily Express -- Official: Most Rosewood Center Residents Will Move To Community

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Official: Most Rosewood Center Residents Will Move To Community
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 25, 2008

OWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND--Very few of the current 166 residents of Rosewood Center are expected to be transferred to Maryland's three remaining state-run institutions when the facility closes next year.

According to the Herald-Mail, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John M. Colmers told a Maryland House committee Tuesday that 153 of the facility's residents were eligible to move into community settings.

The state is trying to figure out what to do with the other 13 "forensic" residents -- those that have criminal backgrounds or have been charged with crimes but found unable to stand trial.

Colmers told the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Health and Human Resources that he is looking into the possibility of having Rosewood's state employees work in community homes. After some prodding, Colmers said that families could choose to have relatives now housed at Rosewood transferred to the other institutions.

Last week, Governor Martin O'Malley announced that the 120-year-old facility would officially close by June 30, 2009. The announcement came after a series of state and federal audits which resulted in new admissions at Rosewood being halted three times last year because of ongoing abuse and neglect of the people with intellectual disabilities housed at the facility.

Maryland disability groups have been calling for years for Rosewood's closure and for the residents to be moved to homes in the community.

Related:
"Rosewood Center -- Poor Conditions Lead To Closure" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/md/rosewood.htm

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