Senators vow to fight end of services to disabled

LINCOLN — Some parents of developmentally disabled adult children Thursday called state officials “mean” and “cold-hearted” for deciding to cut off services they have been getting for decades across the state’s border.

More than a couple said they would move out of state so that their children could continue their current training for simple jobs skills and independent living.

“My daughter can’t do change (like this),” said Jean Williams of South Sioux City, Neb., her voice breaking. Her daughter has an 11-year relationship with Goodwill Industries across the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa.

“I can’t believe the state can be so mean and heartless,” Williams said.

At the end of an afternoon-long public hearing, the chairman of a special state legislative committee looking into the situation pledged to meet with state officials to seek a compromise.

Otherwise, about 23 developmentally disabled Nebraskans will have to quit programs at Sioux City and Yankton, S.D., as early as Aug. 30.

State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha said that it’s clear that uprooting developmentally disabled people from such services and routines is especially damaging and disruptive.

“We’re going to see if there are any options. I can’t guarantee that it will be successful,” Lathrop said after the hearing.

Earlier this year, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services notified Goodwill Industries in Sioux City and Ability Building Services of Yankton that they must end services to clients from Nebraska because the those agencies had no outlets in the Cornhusker State.

That, according to Jodi Fenner of HHS, made it legally impossible for the state to survey if the two providers were providing adequate services and to investigate if problems arose.

To obtain federal funds, Fenner said that Nebraska must attest that it is consistently surveying all providers. Since it has not been doing that for the two out-of-state agencies, she said about $400,000 a year in federal funding has been lost.

“This isn’t about quality,” Fenner told the committee, but a legal obligation to survey that hasn’t been met for years and was overlooked by previous administrators.

“I’m not just a mean attorney. I’m a mother. I have a son with a disability,” said Fenner, fending off comment that she was a “cold-hearted attorney” for deciding to end the services.

State officials said that comparable services would be developed in South Sioux City and Bloomfield, Neb., for the 23, but parents and officials from northeast Nebraska schools at the hearing expressed doubt that they could be developed so quickly and would be of similar quality.

But some in the packed State Capitol hearing room questioned the fairness of continuing out-of-state medical services for the elderly and the poor, and continuing to allow Goodwill Industries and ABS to serve northeast Nebraska school children with developmental disabilities, but not adults with the same handicap.

“Our son has found structure and success, and made many friends at ABS. He’s becoming more competent every day,” said Allen Kneifl of Newcastle, Neb., of his son, Joel, who has received training for three years at the Yankton facility.

State Sen. Bob Giese of South Sioux City said that it appeared that HHS has made no effort to find a compromise to allow inspections so the services would not be interrupted.

Fenner said her job is to follow the rules, and it’s up to the Legislature to change them. Fenner, who oversees services for the developmentally disabled for HHS, reminded senators that only a few months ago, lawmakers called on HHS to step up oversight and surveys of private providers.

That came in the wake of the move of 47 medically fragile residents out of the Beatrice State Developmental Center. Death rates rose among those residents after they were transferred to hospitals, nursing homes and other private facilities.

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