it bothers me

[undergroundpanther]

High-cost home puts mentally ill client in shelter

While charging his parents thousands of dollars for services and care, Normandy Park treatment provider Hanbleceya left Justin DeVille at a Pioneer Square homeless shelter because he hadn't followed the strict rules at a group home.

By Christine Willmsen
Group homes stir anger in quiet Normandy Park (July 2012)


For weeks in the spring, Justin DeVille, a 27-year-old mentally ill man from Atlanta, wandered the Seattle streets, trying to find food and a safe place to stay. Homeless, hungry and exhausted, DeVille sometimes slept at a shelter. Other times, he crashed under an abandoned house for the night or huddled in makeshift cardboard hovels.

His parents, back in Georgia, believed their son was being cared for at a suburban Seattle group home for the mentally ill. They believed he was getting psychotherapy, one-on-one support and other treatment, for which the DeVilles were paying more than $25,000.

To their dismay, they said, they later learned that staffers at the for-profit home, Hanbleceya, had dropped off Justin at a Pioneer Square homeless shelter several times because he hadn't followed rules at the group home.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019234919_mentally_ill_homes23m.html


I went through some very bad times at residential housing, myself. I was not an addict I have a trauma disorder. It was terrible.I got choked nearly unconsious by staff,it was so very painful,I still haven't recovered from it.
Too many of these places are dangerous.Because they mix violent or sex criminals in with the mentally ill who are vulnerable and mostly non- violent.Unreasonable rules,,religious fanatics,staff are abusive,or staff are drug users,don't care, or sexually perverted. And this was in liscenced places I lived at.

Recently I wrote about a place some of my freinds were at,run by jesus freaks that forced them off all medication...

Today a lot of residential housing is in private homes,un liscenced. And lawmakers can't do anything to stop these places from popping up anywhere,writing pretty mission statements on nice brochures while being little spots of horror within..http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/52989662.html

I fear for the non-criminal mentally ill people having to deal with sex offenders,violent criminals,addicts,with no one to help them be safe,It is terrible and evil what gets done to shuffle serious social problems caused by white collar criminals,greedy people, to hide it all away from people especially rich people's eyes.
Saddest part is,all I wanted was to live in a safe place.To get help,get better & build a life.
After my years in those places,I am so very wary of them. You have no idea how bad it can be to live in one of these "homes".
http://pascenter.org/documents/ICEDR_Comments_RJN.pdf

Apparently people get very rich off these places...


New Jersey has disbursed more than half a billion dollars to nonprofit groups over the past decade to run halfway houses, which handle thousands of state and county inmates annually. But regulators have often failed to scrutinize how that money has been spent, especially by the two nonprofit groups that run most of the facilities in the state, according to an examination by The New York Times.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=halfway+houses&oq=halfway+houses&gs_l=news-cc.1.0.43j43i400.75106.79767.0.82864.14.4.0.10.10.0.126.485.0j4.4.0...0.0...1ac.1.ZZcl0_rZnwo
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/nyregion/operator-of-new-jersey-halfway-houses-paid-millions-to-founder.html?pagewanted=all

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. The things you describe are illegal.

Choking, forcing off meds etc. I hope you have reported this to police.

[undergroundpanther]

5. I did

the cops never bothered to talk to me.
Staff got them before they even got in the building,I was so dissociated after being choked I didn't realize the cops were at the door until they left. I had purple marks on my neck. When you are in residential housing you have very little protection.

[napoleon_in_rags]

6. There are agencies dedicated to that.

Here in WA its RCS CRU. Any staff in a residential care facility is required by law to call them as well as police if any abuse is witnessed. Any marks must be reported to them as well. Police also make contact with whoever called 911 as well.

So that situation sounds very weird

[UnrepentantLiberal]

2. That is criminal.

Deregulation has ruined this country.

[rosesaylavee]

3. I am so sorry

Are there any models addressing mental health that you think do work? If so, I'd support those if I knew. I grew up in a town that had a mental health hospital on the edge of town and have watched the lack of adequate care unfold over the decades.

And, what you describe with the private faith-based group,s does not surprise me tho given the plethora of these noxious initiatives of the last decade. I used to think - prior to working for a bully who openly professed his 'faith' - that companies who said they were 'Christian' or whatever faith they professed would be fair and balanced and equitable in their dealings with the community. Not no more. The past 12 years have opened my eyes and when someone feels obliged to tell me, unasked, that they are a christian or whatever, I move quickly away and make mental note to avoid them and/or their business. What that tells me now is that this faith deal is what they are working on, they have some deeply unresolved issues with what their professed faith involves and demands, in being compassionate most likely, and best leave them be.

[napoleon_in_rags]

7. Residential care works fine with oversights.

I've worked in this setting, in facilities, in schools. The positive oversights I've seen in place include:

1) Criminal background checks for all staff, and mandatory training.
2) Stringent abuse reporting laws, state agencies dedicated specifically to abuse claims and client rights.
3) Regular contact of clients with state case managers, third party therapists. State inspections.

My experience is the things UndergroundPanther are reporting are pretty outside the norm, including the reports of calling police and having them not check on the person who made the call.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Why did his parents put him in a home so far from where they live?

If it was my kid, I'd want him nearby so I could keep an eye on him.