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Lawmakers Hear Advocates' Opinions On Blueprint For Change
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 15, 2008

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--The Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities hosted a town hall meeting last Monday to highlight a new plan to redesign state services for people with developmental disabilities that emphasizes shifting from institutional to community services.

The Blueprint for System Redesign in Illinois, which was launched in February, features a seven-year plan to overhaul the way supports are provided. The plan calls for reducing the waiting list for supports by providing services for 2,500 new people each year through the year 2014. There are currently more than 15,000 people on that waiting list.

The Blueprint also calls for closing five of the nine state-run institutions, here called State Operated Developmental Centers, and moving more than half of the 2,200 people housed in them to homes in the community.

The discussion last week is particularly timely in light of the state's budget troubles and ongoing problems with the treatment of people housed at SODCs.

In September, the Department of Human Services announced plans to close Howe Developmental Center, which houses more than 300 people, following investigations into more than two dozen deaths in recent years.

Several state lawmakers showed up for Monday's town hall meeting in Wheaton. According to the Naperville Sun, many of those at the meeting were supportive of the Blueprint.

"The Legislature has attempted to address some of the shortcomings, but the system has so many problems that it is beyond repair. It is broken," said state Representative Sandy Pihos, a Republican from Glen Ellyn.

The Legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability held its own hearing Thursday on the proposed closure of HDC and the Tinley Park Mental Health Center.

According to the Chicago Tribune and the Southtown Star, most of those who attended that hearing expressed anger at the proposed closures.

Some of those who support keeping the institutions open went so far as to suggest the plan to shut them down was somehow connected to the corruption charges that Governor Rod Blagojevich now faces.

Related:
"Group recommends overhaul of services to disabled" (Naperville Sun)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2008/red/1215e.htm
"Passions evident at state hearing on closing Howe, Tinley health centers"
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1327635,121208howe.article
Blueprint for System Redesign in Illinois
http://gettoknowtheblue.org
"Howe Developmental Center" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/il/hdc.htm

Copyright © 2008 Inonit Publishing
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