(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) The history of what is now known as the Fernald Developmental Center hasn't been free of some serious blemishes or controversy. But from 1889 to the present time, Fernald's 200-acre campus in Waltham … [Read more...]
Does the administration have a double standard in the care of the disabled?
[Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog] As The Boston Globe reported last week, Governor Patrick has "unveiled an ambitious and potentially costly plan" to reform the way the state’s criminal justice system handles mentally ill people. The … [Read more...]
State-funded provider execs paid more than $80m a year
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) More than 550 executives working for some 250 state-funded corporate providers of services to people with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts received a total of $80.5 million in annual … [Read more...]
Coalition Urges Massachusetts Education Officials to Reconsider Controversial Gates Foundation Partnership
Yesterday, the Mass. PTA, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mass., the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Citizens for Public Schools wrote to education officials and Governor Patrick demanding they reconsider a plan to share … [Read more...]
Where’s the beef in Community First?
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) We've long maintained that the Patrick administration's agenda of phasing down and closing state developmental centers would ultimately fail to free up additional funding for the community based … [Read more...]
Update on our requests for cost records
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) After a month and a half, it's troubling that the Patrick administration is apparently still unable to locate cost records we requested pertaining to a single community-based group home contract. I … [Read more...]
Once again, we’re waiting for the administration’s cost records
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) It has been more than a month since we asked Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby for public records detailing the costs of specified services in a particular group home program for … [Read more...]
Identifying the missing costs
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) The Patrick administration claims that the average per-person cost of Department of Developmental Services vendor-run group homes is less than the average per-person cost of state developmental centers … [Read more...]
Administration admits to discrepancies in vendor salary info
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) Patrick administration officials appear to be admitting we may be on to something when we pointed out the state may be getting different information than the federal government gets about salaries … [Read more...]
Seeking a chance to speak truth to power
(Cross-posted from the COFAR blog) No doubt, State Rep. Brian Dempsey, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has never talked with Joan Douty, the mother of a resident of the Glavin Regional Center in Shrewsbury. Joan could … [Read more...]