H.R. 3995 - ACTION
ALERT - CALLS TO CONGRESS NEEDED TODAY!!!
ORGANIZATION SIGN ON
OPPORTUNITY - SUPPORT H.R. 3995.
COMPLETE AGENDA FOR VOR's ANNUAL MEETING IS NOW ONLINE -
RECENTLY UPDATED: See
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QUESTIONS:
contact Tamie at Tamie327@hotmail.com or 605-399-1624.
=====
Have you
contacted your U.S. Representative and asked him/her to
cosponsor H.R. 3995? If yes, have you followed-up? Contact Tamie
with any questions and to receive H.R. 3995 advocacy materials
(605-399-1624; tamie327@hotmail.com)
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VOR Weekly E-Mail Update
March 21, 2008
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Table of Contents
STATE NEWS
1. H.R. 3995 ADVOCACY: Members of Congress are Home! Have you
requested an appointment yet to support passage of H.R. 3995?
2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: What if some or all of your income consists
of Social Security, veterans' or other benefits?
3. MARYLAND: Critics testify against Rosewood park plan -
Blocking disability funding is feared
4. MORE FROM OREGON: No safe haven: A father's efforts to
protect his disabled son are repeatedly undone by a caregiver
system rife with abuse and neglect
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1. H.R. 3995 ADVOCACY: Members of Congress are Home! Have you
requested an appointment yet to support passage of H.R. 3995?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Members of Congress are working in their home districts for this
week and next. It is a perfect time to request an appointment
and seek your U.S. Representatives support for H.R. 3995.
We have 21 co-sponsors now! Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA), Rep.
Stephen Cohen (D-TN) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) are the latest
to join the growing list of cosponsors. Help us maintain this
momentum. Call your U.S. Representative today.
To find out who represents you in Congress and/or his/her
District contact information, visit http://www.congress.org and
simply enter your zip code. If you need help, just contact Tamie
at Tamie327@hotmail.com.
To secure VOR’s advocacy materials in support of H.R. 3995 to
prepare for your meeting and to share with your U.S.
Representative and his/her staff, contact Tamie at Tamie327@hotmail.com.
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: What if some or all of your income consists
of Social Security, veterans' or other benefits?
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The economic stimulus law allows Social Security recipients and
recipients of certain veterans' benefits and Railroad Retirement
benefits to count those benefits towards the qualifying income
requirement of $3,000.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) does not count as qualifying
income for the stimulus payment.
To get the payment, you have to file a 2007 tax return using
either Form 1040 or the short Form 1040A, available at http://www.irs.gov.
Even if you don’t normally file a tax return, eligible claimants
must file a return to claim the stimulus payment.
For more information, visit http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=179201,00.html
(Economic Stimulus Payments: Information for Recipients of
Social Security Benefits) and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/k1040a3.pdf
(a helpful instruction guide for Social Security recipients).
Consult your financial advisor with any additional questions.
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3. MARYLAND: Critics testify against Rosewood park plan -
Blocking disability funding is feared
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By Laura Barnhardt
The Baltimore Sunr
March 7, 2008
Legislation that would require the Rosewood Center to become a
135-acre state park could jeopardize funding to help
developmentally disabled people, health advocates told lawmakers
yesterday.
If the Rosewood property is not sold when it is closed in 2010,
funds could be lost that are earmarked to reduce the waiting
list of disabled Marylanders who are seeking services, Brian
Cox, executive director of the Maryland Developmental
Disabilities Council, told members of the House Environmental
Matters Committee at a hearing on the bill.
However, Baltimore County Del. Dana M. Stein, one of the more
than two dozen House members sponsoring the legislation to
designate the property as a park, said that while funding for
disabled residents should be provided, it should not be through
the sale of Rosewood land.
"Our concern is that once the open space is gone, it's gone
forever," Stein said.
In January, Gov. Martin O'Malley ordered the center to close by
2010 and its remaining 150 residents transferred to other
facilities or community settings, such as group homes.
Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat, introduced a
measure to establish a commission to study use of the property
before it closes. And normal state procedures for dealing with
surplus property take into account community input, officials
said yesterday.
But Stein said, "The closure has been the pipeline for years.
The community has already spoken."
Several community leaders spoke yesterday in support of a state
park at Rosewood.
About 210 acres surround the 26 buildings at Rosewood, but 75
acres are under contract for sale, according to an analysis of
the proposed measure.
The Rosewood property would sell for about $4 million, according
to legislative analysts. State officials estimate that the
Department of Natural Resources would spend about $539,000 in
the first year that Rosewood was used as park for staff and
maintenance.
An official from the Department of Natural Resources testified
against the proposal because of the cost of creating and
maintaining the park. The committee did not vote on the measure
yesterday.
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4. OREGON: No safe haven: A father's efforts to protect his
disabled son are repeatedly undone by a caregiver system rife
with abuse and neglect
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Summary: This is the latest article in a series of abuse and
neglect articles featured in The Oregonian (see, http://vor.net/Archived%20E-Mails.htm
and http://vor.net/abuse_neglect.htm, for more information).
By Michelle Roberts
The Oregonian
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Johnny Beckhardt may be the best-known person with a
developmental disability in Oregon.
The 28-year-old stars in a national ad campaign showcasing his
independent lifestyle and work at Goodwill Industries. He and
his father, Lyle "Butch" Beckhardt, appear in national TV ads
and loom larger than life on the nonprofit's delivery trucks. A
photo of Butch, hugging Johnny, illustrates every Goodwill
donation receipt.
The publicity has made Johnny a symbol of hope for people with
mental retardation.
It hasn't done much to protect him.
As a client in Oregon's troubled system of homes for
developmentally disabled adults, Johnny has been victimized
multiple times. Caregivers took financial advantage of him. A
medical emergency nearly killed him. Most recently, officials
moved Johnny from a Dallas group home after he reported what
investigators feared was physical and sexual abuse.
Johnny's experience angers his 67-year-old father. Over the
years, Butch has modeled the type of devoted parental advocacy
that experts say is needed for someone like Johnny to thrive in
the community.
"I am always looking out for Johnny," said Butch. "I call every
week. I keep in touch with his caregivers.
"But this system is so screwed up that even kids with involved
parents are at risk."
Oregon's network of 1,100 group and foster homes serves about
4,600 developmentally disabled adults. An investigation by The
Oregonian last year found that between 2000 and 2006, more than
2,000 were victims of abuse by caregivers, ranging from neglect
of medical needs to rape, beatings, thefts, verbal abuse or
improper restraint.
Half were victims more than once, and 14 died after workers
failed to provide timely or necessary care.
In the wake of the report, outraged legislators pledged to
quickly adopt reforms. But their first step -- a bill to better
track abusive caregivers and boost fines for negligent homes --
was abandoned in the crush of final business at last month's
special legislative session.
People born with developmental disabilities such as Down
syndrome, autism or cerebral palsy have long been known to
suffer high rates of abuse and neglect. State officials say they
are doing the best they can to police the homes but need more
money to boost wages and train better caregivers.
Until that happens, the threat of being a victim continues for
residents, most of whom don't have a parent or other relative
standing at the ready to remedy lapses in their care.
"I wonder what happens," Butch Beckhardt said, "to those who
don't have people looking out for them."
An ardent advocate
Testing showed that Butch carries the gene behind his son's
mental retardation, the result of a chromosomal imbalance. "When
they told me that, I wanted to die," he recalled. "I felt like I
had ruined my son's chances for a normal life."
Johnny was born Sept. 15, 1979. Butch and his wife, Marilyn,
already had a healthy, happy 13-year-old daughter, Marilee.
After Johnny's birth, the couple learned they had a 50-50 chance
of passing on the gene that caused his condition. When Johnny
was 7, the couple had an unplanned pregnancy that resulted in
another daughter, Kim, who had the same condition as Johnny.
Caring for two special needs children wore the couple down.
Butch recalls working 10-hour days at his upholstery shop in
Klamath Falls. Marilyn threw herself into managing her
children's significant needs: special classes, trips to the
doctor and extra supervision.
When Johnny was 10, however, Butch's primary role in his son's
life abruptly shifted from provider to advocate.
Normally good-natured, Johnny had begun to act out. He threw
tantrums, screamed at night, urinated in his pants and swore. He
threw a fit when it was time for school. His parents took him to
the pediatrician, who noted the physical and emotional signs of
sexual abuse.
Detectives focused on one of Johnny's male aides from his
special education class. But Johnny's disability made it
impossible for him to explain exactly what happened. The Klamath
County district attorney's office forwarded the case to a grand
jury, which decided there wasn't enough information. No charges
were filed.
Butch was furious -- at the system, at himself. The former
Marine had been unable to protect his own son. Johnny's
outbursts, he believed, had been "his way of telling me that he
was hurt, angry and afraid."
Butch, who joined the service at age 17 and never graduated from
high school, started spending long hours in the library,
teaching himself about the law and the rights of the disabled.
With the help of attorneys, he sued the Klamath County School
District. Butch eventually agreed to settle for $100,000 and the
district's promise to train all staff members to recognize and
respond to signs of abuse.
He also made a vow: Never let his son be victimized again.
Medical crisis
By the time Johnny was in his teens, his parents divorced.
Marilyn took Kim. Butch got custody of Johnny and moved him when
he was 18 to a Florence group home operated by a nonprofit,
MidCoast Enterprises Inc.
State-licensed group homes, and similar foster homes, generally
have five or fewer residents. Oregon had gradually expanded the
network of such homes under legal pressure to move
developmentally disabled people out of institutions such as the
now-closed Fairview Training Center in Salem.
Butch said he was impressed with what MidCoast promised: Johnny
would learn to become as independent as possible while living in
a supportive environment. And in the beginning, it all seemed
good. Johnny loved his roommates and even got a job making bee
traps at MidCoast's wood shop.
Butch talked about giving Johnny his space, getting him used to
the idea that Butch, who suffers from advanced heart disease and
lupus, wouldn't always be around. But he couldn't stay away.
From his home in Klamath Falls he drove six hours each way to
visit Johnny every other weekend. At the slightest sign of
difficulty for Johnny, he canceled his own doctors' appointments
and rushed to Florence. Workers at Johnny's home noticed.
Normally few families visited, but Butch called Johnny daily.
Still, it wasn't enough to keep Johnny from harm.
In the summer of 2001, MidCoast staff discovered an insect
infestation in the wall of Johnny's bedroom. Contractors removed
an inner and outer wall, Butch said, leaving "sheets of plastic
the only barrier between John and the elements outside."
For months, the situation remained unchanged, according to a
subsequent investigation by the state Department of Human
Services. Then, on Oct. 16, 2001, Butch called Johnny on a video
camera he'd installed on a computer he'd bought for his son.
"During that conversation, I noticed that John looked bad,
sounded bad," Butch said. "I turned off the video cam and called
the house manager on the phone and said, 'What's the matter with
Johnny?' "
Butch said he insisted they take Johnny to the emergency room.
Doctors ordered a chest X-ray and diagnosed pneumonia. Johnny
was given a prescription for an antibiotic and sent home. Four
days later, records show, Johnny showed up at his workshop job
"experiencing difficulty breathing."
By the time group home staff took him to the hospital, Butch
said, Johnny was near death.
"When I got to the hospital," he recalled, "they met me at the
door and told me he might not live."
Johnny went on life support and remained in intensive care for
nearly a month, records show.
Butch demanded a state investigation. Officials ruled that
medical neglect by MidCoast was "inconclusive," though one
witness said workers lacked "training, management and
supervision" and had treated Johnny's condition with "no
urgency."
Financial irregularities
Around the time Johnny returned from the hospital, Butch noticed
that some of his son's belongings had disappeared: a queen-size
bed with a wooden headboard, some of Johnny's trophies and his
stereo.
Investigators never found his bed, and determined that some of
his other things had been removed or taken.
There were also discrepancies in Johnny's bank account. When
Butch asked group home administrators, including residential
manager Debra Gehlke, for Johnny's financial and property
records, he said he was met with "resistance, falsified and
altered records and rudeness."
State investigators, in another inquiry, discovered that workers
had withdrawn nearly $400 from Johnny's bank account for items
he never received, including an ink-jet printer, clothing and a
baby shower gift.
Reviewing the records, Butch discovered another problem. Though
Johnny had always received $5 barber cuts, he was now paying at
least three times that for haircuts -- to Gehlke, a part-time
cosmetologist.
About the same time, regulators spotted the same thing.
Investigators eventually ruled that Gehlke had financially
exploited more than a dozen residents by charging them between
$10 and $25 a haircut.
She'd even received tips from residents' personal funds, the
state's report said, even though many didn't understand they
were paying for the haircuts.
The Oregon Advocacy Center, a legal watchdog for disabled
residents, wrote to the state demanding that Johnny and others
be reimbursed. Jan Friedman, a center lawyer, also asked the
state to forward the case for possible prosecution of Gehlke for
criminal mistreatment.
But an influential advocate intervened.
Tim Kral, whose Oregon Rehabilitation Association represents
nonprofits serving the disabled, objected to a criminal case,
writing to the state that Gehlke "did not intend to defraud or
criminally mistreat residents."
At the time, Kral was a paid consultant to MidCoast and acting
as "executive manager" to the nonprofit. During his time at
MidCoast, the agency's board decided to go out of business and
transfer all its property, valued at $1 million, to Shangri-La,
another nonprofit run by Kral's wife, Jan.
The close relationships alarmed Friedman, who on April 22, 2003,
wrote to state officials that Jan Kral's position at Shangri-La
created a "likely conflict of interest" for Tim Kral.
Ultimately, law enforcement did nothing with the case.
Gehlke told The Oregonian that a MidCoast supervisor had ordered
her to give the haircuts and she was too inexperienced to
realize it was improper.
Tim Kral also denied any conflict of interest, saying MidCoast's
board made the ultimate decision to give its property to
Shangri-La. Afterward, Jan Kral later hired Gehlke, whom she
calls an "exemplary employee."
New home, more trouble
Frustrated, Butch moved his son to a Dallas group home run by
Partnerships in Community Living Inc. in November 2003.
Once again, the home came highly recommended.
PCL helped Johnny find a job at the local Goodwill store. At
first, Butch worried that the store was too big and people might
not understand his son. But Johnny loved his job putting clothes
on hangers.
At work, the formerly frightened and withdrawn young man became
productive and confident. In 2005, he was one of 11 workers
nationwide nominated for Goodwill's Achiever of the Year award.
Johnny was feted at a celebration, where Sen. Gordon Smith,
R-Ore., gave him a U.S. flag that had flown over the Capitol.
Johnny and Butch were asked to be Goodwill's marketing face.
Today, their photos are on Goodwill trucks, store and donation
center murals, Web sites and promotional materials throughout
the United States and Canada.
"Through Goodwill, Johnny really opened up," Butch said.
Yet as Johnny's "professional" life blossomed, problems arose at
his group home.
Butch assumed Johnny would have near-constant supervision. He
later learned that Johnny's side of a five-person duplex was
unstaffed for periods each night, with one worker "floating back
and forth" between the sides.
During a visit to Dallas in September 2006, Butch picked up a
local newspaper and was stunned to read that Johnny's
19-year-old weekend caregiver, Tiffany Stewart, had been
arrested for frequenting a place where drugs are used. The place
was her own home.
Butch was irate. Stewart continued to staff Johnny's home from 8
a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays with no direct
supervision. Then, another PCL caregiver quit and wrote to
officials about conditions at the home.
In the letter, Jennifer Vaughn said Stewart often visited late
at night with friends and created a "party atmosphere."
Stewart's boyfriend, a "known area drug dealer," visited so
often that residents, including Johnny, could identify his car,
Vaughn wrote.
A misdemeanor drug count against Stewart was dismissed when her
live-in boyfriend, Floyd Daniel Saxton, took responsibility for
drugs found at the residence, a prosecutor told The Oregonian.
Records show Stewart bailed him out of jail. Saxton was
convicted of felony charges of methamphetamine possession.
PCL associate director Joanne Fuhrman said PCL knew about
Stewart's drug arrest, but when the charge against her was
dropped there was "no action that could be taken." After
learning about Vaughn's letter, she said PCL issued a reminder
that all visitors had to be preapproved.
Stewart stayed on the job and a few months later took Johnny and
his roommate to her home, which law enforcement officials had
determined was a drug house, according to PCL records obtained
by The Oregonian.
While there, Johnny "witnessed an argument between Tiffany and
her boyfriend," wrote another PCL worker in an incident report
dated Jan. 17, 2007. "The rest of the day, (Johnny) repeatedly
let staff know, in his own words: No like Tiffy. Not my house,
no more."
Stewart, who still works for PCL, declined specific comment.
"It's none of nobody's business," she said.
Traumatized
It was clear that something had traumatized Johnny. After the
incident, PCL records state that Johnny refused to go to work
for two days and have contact with Butch.
According to another report the next month, Johnny ran to the
other side of the duplex at 2:15 a.m., banged on the door and
rushed in. He turned and locked the door behind him, repeating
over and over, "The bad man my room. The bad man my room. Man my
house. Knock on door."
Johnny's behavior became unusual enough that his county case
manager sent him to a therapist. During videotaped sessions,
Johnny disclosed physical abuse by acting it out. The disclosure
included an allegation of sexual abuse against a male employee.
The therapist, as required by law, reported it to police. So did
Polk County officials. But when Johnny was unable to repeat the
disclosure in front of authorities, the criminal investigation
ended, Butch said.
On Friday, Eva Kutas, director of the state Human Services
Department's Office of Investigations and Training, said the
agency examined the allegations and was unable to prove whether
the abuse happened or, if so, who was responsible. Again,
Johnny's limited communication skills complicated the case.
"The ability to get information that's reliable from people with
developmental disabilities is a challenge in many cases of this
nature," Kutas said, "not just this one."
In July, Butch moved Johnny from PCL to yet another home.
He hopes it will be permanent. His current wife, Peggy, was
diagnosed recently with lung cancer, and Butch's medical
problems are chronic. Protecting Johnny has been their life's
work, Butch said.
"We really need to know that he's going to be safe," he said,
"for the time when we're not going to be here anymore."
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Tamie Hopp
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