The Department of Justice is suggesting that states no longer fund in-home and community-based services for Americans with disabilities. A Quad Cities nonprofit said that would erase three decades of progress.
Hand in Hand has been empowering children and adults with disabilities for the last 27 years, providing summer camp, childcare, and adult day programs.
CEO Angie Kendall says the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion threatens the 1999 Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C.'s precedent that states have a legal responsibility to provide support that integrates disabled Americans into their communities.
“[T]he way it's interpreted…it validated and made into law something that never should have been questioned. And that is that all people have the opportunity and right to live in their community,” Kendall said. “And I was not born during this time, but we know that individuals with disabilities were forced to leave their families, their homes, [and] live in institutions that were not humane. And so we realized as a nation long, long ago that it is important to ensure that we not only practice, but state that people have a right to access their community.”
Kendall said the news was shocking and that it doesn’t make sense as the programs are designed to save costs. Americans with disabilities can request Medicaid waivers to cover costs, however Kendall points out it doesn’t cover the entire bill.
“But it's important to remember that those reimbursement rates are often far less than the actual cost of care,” Kendall said. “And for many, many individuals that all local providers serve, but especially children at Hand in Hand, there is no payer source. So when we look at child care, we are providing specialized care for children, adjusting our ratios to meet those needs, but we're not in a situation in which we can bill anyone for that service.”
Kendall notes 40% of those they serve in childcare are in low-income brackets.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that people with disabilities be served in the most integrated setting whenever possible. It’s unclear how the Trump administration will move forward with changing federal law.
“We at Hand in Hand, for example, our adult day program spends every day out in the community being active members of our community and volunteering at an incredible number of Quad City nonprofits that make our community livable, whether we're talking about the Botanical Center, New Kingdom Trail Riders, Family Resources, Humble Dwellings, the library or the Family Museum, and many, many others,” Kendall said. “We are out actively supporting these, these places and actively being part of our community. So any message that would threaten everyone's right to do that and the value added to our community is certainly alarming to us.”
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