The letter from the state Office for People with Disabilities hit me like a bombshell.
The state-run facility where Kenneth and Kathy Lamar have lived for seven years, their severely disabled adult daughter, is set to be “closed” to make room for children in need of foster care, the release said.
“We will work with you and your loved one to explore options,” a form letter from the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) said.
The Lamars are among several parents and family members of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who were notified May 6 of plans by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCS) to repurpose housing for children in their custody.
Cathy Lamar said she felt betrayed by Tennessee disability officials who had previously guaranteed her daughter Rebecca would have quality, round-the-clock care for the rest of her life while she lived with three other women in a Nashville vacation home.
The Department of Child Welfare keeps many disabled children in hospitals for more than eight months.
Rebecca Lamar, 42, decorates her pink bedroom with family photos and posters of her idol, Loretta Lynn. She has cerebral palsy, is blind, relies on a wheelchair to get around and has the cognitive skills of a 10-year-old, but none of this changes her love of wearing evening dresses and listening to children’s audiobooks.
“By DCS leaving these issues unattended, it’s like they’re taking care of Paul from Peter,” Cathy Lamar said last week. “I feel for these kids, but I’m not going to give up my child’s bed to them. No. There’s no difference between her and these kids.”
Facing an outcry from affected families, DIDD officials said last week that “no one will be evicted from their homes and we have communicated this to families.”
A ministry statement said its intention was to “identify private service provider options in the local area and begin to assist people and families with the support the ministry can provide for those looking to transition to appropriate local or private ICF facilities (care homes).”
But in these private conversations, families reported feeling pressured by state officials who emphasized the pressing needs facing children in state custody, who noted that there are fewer spaces available for DCS children with medical needs than for adults receiving DIDD services.
“DCS is using the plight of young people in DCS custody to encourage probation officers and families to remove these people,” said Zoe Jamail, policy director for the Tennessee Disability Rights Association, which has sent its own letter saying families are under no obligation to remove their loved ones from the facilities.
“They’re pitting one group against another,” she said.
The children spent months in the hospital.
For more than three years, state social workers have struggled to find foster homes for children who end up in state custody as a result of abuse or neglect, a challenge made even more difficult when the children have ongoing medical needs such as tracheotomies or feeding tubes, or are wheelchair-bound.
Child advocates have long said some parents feel compelled to surrender their children to the state because they can’t provide the in-home care they need. A DCS spokesman acknowledged this last week but noted that the agency doesn’t track data on parental surrenders.
In 2022, DCS Commissioner Margie Quinn publicly stated that children were being hospitalized unnecessarily, in some cases for more than eight months at a time, for a lack of better options, The Lookout reported at the time.
Last year, Gov. Bill Lee announced the state’s “Tennessee Strong Homes” initiative as a solution to this problem. As part of the initiative, the state will place children with complex medical needs in vacant homes that were once used to care for intellectually disabled adults.
The initiative was born out of “a need to support Tennessee hospitals” that are tasked with caring for DCS children, a DCS spokesperson said. DCS said nine children are currently living in the home, which was previously home to adults with disabilities.
Kenneth and Kathy Lamar read a letter from the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities informing them that their adult daughter, Rebecca, may be removed from her group home. (Photo by John Partipillo)
Rebecca Lamar’s room in her parents’ home in Kaleoka, Tennessee, features a tribute to her favorite music star, Loretta Lynn. (Photo: John Partipillo)
Diane McVety discusses the fate of her brother, Clark Blackwell, if the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities removes him from his current home (Photo by John Partipillo)
Clark Blackwell was “living his best life” in a group home where he listened to rock and Christian music on a boombox, said his sister, Diane McVety. (Photo by John Partipillo)
It was only last month that state officials warned families and guardians of current residents that their homes were also being subject to child surveillance.
The cottages were built in 2016 after the long-delayed closures of Clover Bottom in Nashville and Green Valley Developmental Centers in Greenville, which were built at a time when people with disabilities were housed in large institutions at an early age and for most of their lives.
The deinstitutionalization movement, which has taken place across the country, was enacted by court order in Tennessee to assert the right of people with disabilities to live in home-like environments. The cottages dot the state’s west, middle and east regions.
“They think they’ll get more sympathy for these kids.”
Current residents include Clark Blackwell, who lived in Clover Bottom for 35 years, starting when he was 17, before moving into a four-person cottage next door to Rebecca Lamar. Staff have also moved from Clover Bottom to the new facility, and Blackwell’s family says he’s had the same caregiver for 40 years.
Blackwell is non-verbal but mobile, can eat, dress and bathe without assistance, goes to the YMCA regularly, blasts rock and Christian music on her boombox and chooses her own groceries when she goes to the grocery store.
“He was living his best life,” said Blackwell’s sister, Diane McVety.
McVety, a grandmother of 10 foster children, six of whom are adopted, said she sympathizes with the needs of children in DCS custody but would not sacrifice her brother.
The Department of Child Welfare is working on housing solutions for children in state custody.
While a private group home or assisted living facility may be an option, the family sees no reason to move Blackwell right now.
Several years ago, the family briefly moved Blackwell out of Clover Bottom into a private facility, but removed him again after he suffered physical abuse, including cigarette burns and bite marks on his hands, his sister said.
“It’s like they’re trying to solve one problem and creating another,” she said. “Clark has endured so much in his life and he can’t even talk about it.”
McVety said that during a call with DIDD officials, he emphasized “what kids are going through.”
“But this is my brother,” she said, “and in my opinion they just think they get more sympathy from children than adults and would rather have them moved elsewhere in the private sector, regardless of quality.”
Like the Lamar family, she said the peace she felt knowing her youngest brother would care for her after she was gone has been shattered in recent weeks.
“I can’t sleep because when I lie down I hear them saying that Clarke can be fired at any moment,” said McVety, 69. “Even if they say Clarke is OK for now, when is the next disaster going to happen?”
Original DIDD Community Transition Letter
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