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Support the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act

VOR Action Alert

In addition to writing your own letters and making your own calls, please share this Action Alert with members of your family organization, program staff and other advocates for people with mental retardation. We need to generate as much grassroots response as possible. THANK YOU!

Table of Contents

1. Support the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act: Letter of introduction and background information
2. Contact information and Time Line
3. Sample phone message
4. Template letter
5. Template press release

1. Support the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act: Letter of introduction and background information

Dear VOR Members and Friends:

Thank you for your patience regarding the many e-mails VOR has sent out recently. There are many pressing issues facing citizens with disabilities in Congress.

Today I am writing to ask your support, with calls and letters to Congress and your local media, for a resolution that has been recently introduced in Congress. The Direct Support Professional Recognition Act, H.Con.Res.477, introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), expresses the sense of Congress that community inclusion for individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities is at serious risk because of the crisis in recruiting and retaining direct support professionals, which impedes the availability of a stable, quality workforce.

As VOR members and friends, you know that VOR supports a full array of QUALITY residential services and supports. In the introduction to its "Abuse and Neglect" document, which outlines systemic quality concerns with community-based infrastructure in the majority of states (see, http://www.vor.net/research/2002-06-abuse-neglect.html), VOR notes,

"There is little doubt that the explosion in the number of these small, community-based residential sites is posing substantially greater quality management and system infrastructure challenges for states and local developmental disabilities authorities. Increased media attention on these issues confirms that states have not always met these challenges successfully . . . Once state developmental disabilities officials have the answers to all relevant quality questions, they can then develop a plan that outlines for decisionmakers the funding and quality mechanisms needed to assure that people with developmental disabilities who choose to reside in the community will have a truly beneficial experience."

The demand for community supports has grown. States are working to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Olmstead which affirms the right of individuals with disabilities to receive community-based care if appropriate to individual needs and choice. Included in some Olmstead planning efforts is action to address the waiting list, which certainly attests to the need for the further expansion of a quality community-based network.

Of course, the quality of existing and emerging programs will depend much upon the quality of the workforce. That is what the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act (DSPRA) aims to address. The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), which lead the effort to see the DSPRA introduced, reports,

"Across the nation, federal and state agencies, providers, consumers, and family members are reporting high vacancies and turnovers and, at the same time, an ability to recruit and retain direct support professionals to provide the wide-range of services needed on a day-to-day basis. Exacerbated by the enormous demographic changes and increased need for long term care spurred by the aging of baby boom generation and the slower growth rate in the traditional source of new workers women aged 25 to 44 a workforce crisis has emerged that demands the nation's attention."

Although the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act is merely a resolution a "sense of Congress" that a crisis is at hand a resolution is a good first step toward ensuring real reform in the next Congressional session. People with mental retardation in all settings, but especially those residing or waiting for community-based supports, will benefit from this initial first step.

Below you will find

(1) Congressional contact information and time line
(2) Sample phone message
(3) A template letter to send to your Congressman (House of Representatives).
(4) A template Press Release for use with your local media

VOR supports passage of the Direct Support Professional Recognition Act. Further details, including a brief overview of the Act, Congressional contact information, and a time line follows. Please lend your support and contact Congress today.

Sincerely,

Tamie Hopp
Executive Director
Voice of the Retarded
vor@compuserve.com

2. Contact information and Time Line

WHO

Your Congressman in the House of Representatives. Contact information follows.

Your local media.

WHERE

Direct contact information, including in most cases e-mail and fax numbers, can be accessed by visiting http://www.vor.net (bottom of home page), or at http://congress.org. These links will also tell you who your Senators are by typing your zip code.

If you prefer to write with your concerns, a fax or e-mail is necessary. A template letter is shared below for your use. A template press release is also shared below.

WHEN

Target adjournment for the House of Representatives is October 18, 2002.

3. Sample phone message

4. Template letter

The Honorable ____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Rep. _____________:

As your constituent, I am writing to inform you that enhanced lives for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities (MR/DD) is at serious risk, regardless of service setting. The direct support professional recruitment and retention crisis is impeding the availability of a stable, quality workforce. I urge you to draw much needed attention to this crisis by co-sponsoring the Sessions/Capps resolution (H.Con. Res. 477) which recognizes the importance of a stable, quality direct support workforce.

I am a member of Voice of the Retarded, a national advocacy organization serving families of people with mental retardation. As a [mother/father/sister/brother/family member/other] of a person with mental retardation, I know first hand that direct support professionals play an indispensable role in ensuring that individuals with MR/DD enjoy high quality supports. Direct support professionals provide a wide range of supportive services on a day-to-day basis to these individuals, including habilitation, health needs, personal care and hygiene, employment, transportation, recreation, housekeeping and other home management-related assistance. While a rewarding profession, direct support work is not easy and can, in fact, be physically and emotionally challenging.

Unfortunately, because of Medicaid budget constraints, direct support professionals earn an average hourly wage of just $7.97 (the national median for all U.S. workers is $11.87 per hour). Such wages in comparison to other entry-level jobs that provide less physically and emotionally demanding work, as well as higher pay and other benefits, makes the direct support profession unattractive in the current labor market. The severity of the staffing shortages and turnover rates in the direct support workforce threatens the quality and continuity of supports and services for people with MR/DD.

In large and small settings, the demand for a quality workforce is great. The demand for community supports and services is especially strong as states work to expand community-based options for individuals with MR/DD, motivated by the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision and the President's New Freedom Initiative. Yet without quality and continuity in direct support services, people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities are at risk.

We need your help now! Without national attention to this workforce crisis, providers of community supports and services will not be able to attract qualified direct support professionals necessary to assist people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities to live in the community. Please take action NOW by becoming a co-sponsor of the Sessions/Capps resolution. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you on this.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Phone
E-Mail

5. Template press release

Contact: Tamie Hopp, Executive Director
               Telephone: 605-399-1624

WORKFORCE CRISIS AFFECTING SUPPORT FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES IS TOP CONCERN

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 - A joint meeting of disability advocates and providers recently took place in Washington, D.C. The American Network of Community Options and Resources sponsored the Government Activities Seminar. The meeting in Washington, DC featured Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX). Congressman Sessions held a press conference during the meeting to announce his Direct Support Professional Recognition Act, H.Con.Res.477. Lois Capps (D-CA) is co-sponsor of this Resolution that urges national attention to this recruitment and retention workforce crisis.

The Direct Support Professional Recognition Act expresses "...the sense of Congress that community inclusion and enhanced lives for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities is at serious risk because of the direct support professional recruitment and retention workforce crisis, which impedes the availability of a stable, quality workforce."

According to Tamie Hopp, Executive Director of Voice of the Retarded, "Congressional attention to the national workforce crisis is welcome and long overdue. There are over 200,000 individuals on waiting lists for critical services and many more who are suffering from substandard care due, in part, to the shortage of high quality, well-trained direct support workers. Many providers are even curtailing services while numerous states maintain waiting lists of thousands needing various levels of support and service."

Voice of the Retarded, located in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is a national advocacy organization serving individuals with mental retardation and their families. VOR supports high quality residential and support options in community and facility-based settings. For more information, visit www.vor.net.

VOR * 836 S. Arlington Heights Rd., #351 * Elk Grove Village, Illinois * 60007

877-399-4VOR ph. * 847-253-0675 fax * tamie327@hotmail.com