CHICAGO (AP) - A new settlement in a civil rights case could affect nearly 10,000 adults with developmental disabilities in Illinois, giving more independence to some and allowing others to stay in large institutions.
The compromise agreement, filed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago, takes into account the objections of families who worried a prior version would have forced their family members out of residential facilities. A federal judge rejected the earlier version in 2009 after receiving 2,500 written objections.
This time, it’s more clearly spelled out that the state can’t divert money from large private facilities to pay for community services and that residents who are happy living in the institutions could stay where they are.
But institution residents instead could choose to move to smaller homes and get support services, such as help learning to cook, shop and apply for jobs.
The agreement affects 6,000 adults who receive state aid and live in privately operated care facilities. Residents of state-operated facilities aren’t affected by the agreement.
Illinois’ Medicaid program also would be required to offer services to an additional 3,000 adults living at home with aging parents or other family members.
“The reason we support it now is it really does protect choice,” said Chicago attorney Scott Mendel, whose 28-year-old daughter, Sarah, is developmentally disabled and lives at Misericordia Heart of Mercy in Chicago, a facility affected by the settlement. Mendel represents some of the former objectors.
The agreement would settle claims that Illinois violates the civil rights of the developmentally disabled by needlessly segregating them in large institutions. A federally funded report ranks Illinois last in the nation for helping such people live more independently.
The agreement still needs court approval. U.S. District Judge James Holderman is expected to schedule a hearing. Illinois Department of Human Services spokesman Tom Green said the department wouldn’t comment on the agreement until it’s approved.
The agreement sets a six-year timetable for Illinois to offer community-based housing to adults who want to move out of licensed facilities with nine beds or more. There are about 240 such facilities throughout Illinois.
The state also must maintain a waiting list of people who want community-based services but don’t currently live in institutions. Within six years, the state must provide services to 3,000 of those adults, including 1,000 during the first two years.
One of those developmentally disabled adults is Jennifer Wilson, 26, who lives with her parents in Springfield. Wilson has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She is a named plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Illinois twice denied Wilson’s request to live in a small group home or apartment with support services, said her father, Rick Wilson. The state offered her a place in a large institution, he said.
The settlement would give Jennifer Wilson a chance to live more independently, he said. It would give him peace of mind to know she wouldn’t be suddenly thrown into a strange living arrangement if something happened to him and his wife.
“She’s a young lady now. She needs the opportunity to maximize her individual liberty,” Rick Wilson said.
Another named plaintiff in the case, David Cicarelli, 37, would be one of the first to move from an institution. He talked this week about his future after 14 years at a care facility in suburban Lincolnshire.
“In a community-based home, I can cook dinner,” said Cicarelli, who is developmentally delayed. “I know how to make a cake, just for dessert though.” He’ll eat pizza for the main course, he said. He’d also like to have a pet kitten and work at a restaurant, maybe he could “help the kids” at Chuck E. Cheese’s, he said.
Cicarelli and his parents moved to Illinois in the mid-1990s, and discovered that state services lagged behind New York state, their former home.
“I just can’t believe the lack of services in Illinois,” said Julianne Cicarelli, 69, David’s mother. “I want David to be independent and live in a place where he’s comfortable. It’s federal law that it should be happening and I’m upset that it’s not.”
Adults with developmental disabilities would have six years to decide whether to join the class represented in the settlement, said Barry Taylor, legal advocacy director for Chicago-based Equip for Equality, one of the groups that filed the original lawsuit in 2005.
“There will be some people who aren’t going to sign up right away because they may have had bad experiences in unsupported community services in the past,” Taylor said. “They can wait to see how it works out for their peers and they can join in over that period of six years.”
The lawsuit is one of three similar complaints involving Medicaid-funded housing in Illinois. Last year, a judge approved a similar agreement involving people with mental illness who live in specialized nursing homes. A third case that would affect people with physical disabilities or mental illness in regular nursing homes is pending.
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The case is Ligas v. Hamos.
