Illinois faces backlash over bid to end oversight of disability services
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[July 23, 2024]
By MOLLY PARKER
& BETH HUNDSDORFER
Capitol News Illinois
investigations@capitolnewsillinois.com
As Illinois seeks to end federal court oversight of its disability
services, an independent court monitor says the state continues to fall
short of promises made 13 years ago to allow people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities to live outside of institutions.
Court hearings are set to begin this week as to whether the state will
be released from what’s known as the Ligas consent decree. The consent
decree originated from a 2005 lawsuit alleging that Illinois'
insufficient funding for community living options led to the segregation
of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Due to
the lack of support for living in the community, many were forced to
seek care in large, hospital-like facilities. The lawsuit argued this
violated a landmark 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision in a case against
Georgia, which mandated states accommodate individuals in the most
integrated setting of their choosing.
In 2011, to settle the Ligas case, the state agreed to undergo a major
expansion of its community-based services. And in December, the state
filed a motion to vacate the consent decree, accompanied by a lengthy
report stating it had exceeded its commitments despite that its system
of care is “not and will never be perfect.”
But Ronnie Cohn, the monitor and a New York-based expert on disability
services, told the court that too many people still can’t access
community-based services in Illinois, especially those in crisis or who
have more complex medical and behavioral support needs.
Cohn’s report referenced a February news article by Capitol News
Illinois and ProPublica that featured a young woman with cerebral palsy
who had been unable to leave Kiley Developmental Center in upstate
Waukegan despite her desire to live in the community. Pandemic
restrictions had exacerbated the woman’s anxiety and aggression at her
group home, leading to repeated police calls and overmedication.
Placed at Kiley in crisis, she had hoped it would be a short stay to
adjust her medications and find a different group home that could better
meet her needs. But instead, she had been stuck there for two years,
unable to find a suitable alternative. She remains at Kiley, though she
did recently find a group home provider and will move out soon.

Cohn said situations like this are not unique and illustrate why the
consent decree is still needed. She highlighted numerous other cases of
individuals covered by the consent decree who had faced barriers to
moving out of state-run facilities. She faulted a dearth of community
services available to support them and poor planning by state staff who
are supposed to help facility residents find community placements and
develop the skills needed to live more independently.
“The motion to terminate does not make sense at this time and juncture,”
Cohn said in a late May court filing. Equip for Equality, a legal
advocacy organization and the plaintiffs’ attorneys, previously had told
the court it also objects to ending the consent decree.
The state’s motion to vacate claimed that, as a result of historic
investments, Illinois extended support to thousands more individuals in
community group homes and family settings – more than 23,000 in 2023
compared to 13,500 in 2011. It increased pay for frontline workers who
help people with daily tasks like eating, bathing and errands. And the
state argued it significantly reduced the time people spend waiting for
services, especially when they are facing a crisis.

Cohn acknowledged that the state has improved since 2011, but she argued
that it’s not been enough, echoing what advocates have long emphasized:
Illinois continues to rely too heavily on large, state-operated
developmental centers and other similar privately operated facilities,
as well as segregated work programs known as “workshops.”
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Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in rural Anna,
Illinois, was built more than 150 years ago. (Whitney Curtis for
ProPublica)

And while the state has expanded the number of people served in
Community Integrated Living Arrangements, or CILAs, even the state's
group home model is outdated, Cohn said. Many of the homes house six to
eight individuals, while disability rights advocates say that CILA homes
of three or fewer people more closely reflect the independence and
privacy that most people desire. As a result of these myriad
shortcomings, she wrote, Illinois’ system of care operates in “stark
contrast to national best practices.”
In her statement to the court, she included state data showing that
there are currently 200 individuals covered by the consent decree
residing in six of the state’s seven developmental centers. These
centers have been the focus of a monthslong investigation by the news
organizations that has exposed abuse, poor care, efforts by staff to
conceal misconduct, and systemic failures to improve conditions over at
least two decades.
In prior reports to the court, Cohn and Equip for Equality have
emphasized that persistent safety concerns in these facilities
underscore the critical importance of avoiding placements in state-run
institutions for individuals covered by the consent decree. In an
October court brief, Equip for Equality said individuals had been
transferred from community homes to institutional care during crises and
then suffered tragic outcomes.
More than half of the 200 individuals who have been sent to institutions
ended up at Choate Developmental Center in the small southern Illinois
town of Anna, where the news organizations uncovered some of the most
egregious instances of abuse and cover-ups. In its December court
filing, the state acknowledged problems inside some of the centers and
said they are working to address them, while adding that facility
conditions are not covered by terms of the consent decree.
Illinois Department of Human Services officials previously told
reporters they planned to install security cameras in common areas at
all state-run facilities, along with beefing up staffing, training,
security and oversight.
To deal with more acute safety problems at Choate, state officials
announced a plan in March 2023 to begin relocating about 120 Choate
residents, roughly half of the people residing there at the time. IDHS
said that, as of mid-July, 49 individuals had relocated: 37 moved into
other facilities, mostly state-run developmental centers, and nine
individuals transitioned into group homes or moved home with relatives.
Cohn told the court she’d heard from individuals receiving services and
their loved ones from across the state since Illinois made its bid to
terminate the consent decree.
At an April “Ligas Family Town Hall,” participants “passionately
expressed fears over potential termination,” Cohn told the court, with
one self-advocate saying, “I thought Illinois wanted to go forward, not
millions of steps backward.”
Cohn said in her court testimony she had also received numerous phone
calls and emails. In one correspondence, a parent told Cohn that most
group homes in their region house eight people, which the parent said is
not well suited for those with higher needs like their son. While he
currently lives at home, Cohn said the parent told her: “Our son’s
long-term outcomes are not promising, and as we age, we worry about his
future when we can no longer care for him.”
Oral arguments in the Ligas case are scheduled to begin Wednesday in
Chicago in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is
distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois
Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association. |