Many developmentally disabled people living in the community receive what state officials call “supported living services.”
Supported living services are provided to developmentally disabled people who live in their own homes or rent homes and apartments.
“We put in the supports according to each person’s individual service plan and according to their health and safety needs,” said Marybeth Poch, Regional Administrator with the Division for Developmental Disabilities with the Department of Health and Human Services. To do that, the state contracts with private agencies offering supportive living programs.
While the providers go through a certification process, the homes are not seen as “group homes” or institutions so they are not licensed. Providers must maintain specialized training standards for its employees, among other things.
Supported living services are different from nursing homes, adult family homes or group homes. Group homes, adult family homes and nursing facilities are state-licensed and are run by the companies or people who own the homes, and can be fined or even shut down if they don’t meet state licensure standards.
“We have on contract 40 formal certified residential program providers in King County,” Poch said. “A series of the certified providers specialize in supporting developmentally disabled individuals who have community protection issues” — they have sex offender backgrounds or exhibit other criminal behavior.
For the developmentally disabled clients that require community protection, “the housing has to be preapproved by DDD,” Poch said. “This is so that if the clients also have sex offender issues that they are not living near an elementary school, and that the client is kept in touch with their case manager and corrections officer.”
Poch said the state cannot control where clients live.
“We know who our providers are, and who their clients are, but they are allowed to live anywhere,” she said. “We encourage that they live near transportation and shopping since they can’t drive cars, and we may have one provider, because they know the resources in a particular area that might influence where a concentration of their clients live, but it’s all about choice.”
Developmentally disabled clients voluntarily agree to be a part of the supportive living program, she said. The state currently pays about $280 a day, per person, for agencies to provide day programs, therapy and living assistance. Housing is paid for by the disabled person.
“If they sign on, they have to agree to standards like supervision in the community, service plans, an assessment related to community protection risk, agree to intervention strategies, restrictions and measures and also have a psycho-sexual evaluation,” Poch said, adding that any restrictive procedures necessary are part of the agreement.
But, Poch says, all of this information should not necessarily be shared with police who say they need to know for safety reasons.
Poch says civil rights are paramount and that clients may not have been convicted for their behaviors because they can’t stand trial. “People have not lost their civil rights, and that’s an important issue.” she said.
According to the law, there is nothing to notify police about, she said. “And only certain levels of sex offenders require notification.”
She confirmed that police were not involved in developing the state’s model, but says officials would like to work better with local police departments.
“If we have the cooperation of the individuals and their families, where it makes sense, we share information with police or fire departments,” she said.
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