NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Disability advocates are telling people with loved ones in state-run community homes they do not have to leave.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates first reported the state is decommissioning community homes where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities have lived for years.
Many families were shocked when they received a letter from the state last month saying they want to "transition" their loved ones into private care facilities or help them find home-based care.
Following the state's letter, Disability Rights Tennessee — which advocates for those with disabilities — responded by sending letters of its own to people with loved ones in the community homes.
In bold it stated "You are under no obligation to move your loved one" out of the state-operated homes.
"Our concern is a lot of these families or conservators feel like they don't have a choice," said Zoe Jamail with Disability Rights Tennessee. "It is absolutely reasonable to be concerned about forced moves based on the language of the state's letter."
NewsChannel 5 Investigates spoke to Becky Moss shortly after she received the state's letter.
She worried where her daughter, Kelly Harper, would live if she had to leave.
Harper, 40, is partially paralyzed and has been unable to speak ever since a brain injury as a child.
She initially lived at Clover Bottom until the state closed the facility 10 years ago.
That's when she moved into the community home, which has constant medical care, and some of the same caregivers she's had for decades.
"It's not right to push them out when this is all they have known for years and years. It's not right," Moss said. "They are trying to do it all under the rug."
After our questions, the Department of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities — which runs the homes — sent a statement saying, "No one is being evicted from their homes."
It said they are trying to "create capacity for children" with complex medical needs who are currently in the Tennessee Department of Children's Services custody and often stay in hospitals because long-term foster placement is not available to meet their medical needs.
The state said they're just asking current adult residents to "consider alternative placements."
Zoe Jamail with Disability Rights Tennessee said the letter from the state did not seem like it was asking for volunteers to move.
"When I read the letter I have the same impression that many of the people who received the letters have," Jamail said.
The Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities will not do an on-camera interview.
It told NewsChannel 5 Investigates that nine children are currently in the community homes it operates across the state.
There are 36 state-operated community homes in Tennessee.
One other home is owned by the state, but services are provided through a private contractor.
Each home has four beds, which means there are nearly 150 beds state-wide.
The department said it "has no target date" for when all the homes will be filled with children.
"What we are hearing from the state is that the plan is to eventually convert all of these homes into beds for young people in DCS custody," Jamail said.
The state told families that adults have more private options available and it needs to expand its care for children.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked Becky Moss, "What have you been told?"
Moss replied, "18-24 months and they (the adults) will be gone. Not just in her (Kelly's) house, all of them."
Becky Moss and other families tell us they've been told privately by state officials their loved ones will eventually have to move.
She is glad the state is now publicly saying they can stay and appreciates the support from advocacy groups.
"We do not have to disrupt the housing and service provision for one population in order to serve the other," Jamail said.
When asked questions for this report the Department of Developmental Disabilities sent the same statement it sent for our initial report:
"No one is being evicted from their homes, and we have stated that in conversations with family members. What we are trying for to do, and what is stated in the letter, is create capacity for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities with complex medical needs who have little to no placement options outside of hospitals. In order to do that, we are asking people living in our community homes to consider alternative placement in the wide range of residential options available to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities."
