Community Resources

Across the country, individuals with developmental disabilities who reside at home or in community-based services face long waits for needed services, such as health care, dental care, OT/PT, and even wheel chair adjustments. Many of these people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities simply go without.

It doesn't have to be that way.

VOR supports the expansion of specialty out-patient clinics situated at existing licensed residential facilities - Community Resource Centers. The facilities already provide highly professional, specialized care to their residents. Rather than reinvent the wheel, VOR has promoted using the existing services and infrastructure to bring these services to nonresident neighbors of the facility.

It is more than pipe dream. It is a proven model. The following are some examples of community resource centers that have helped people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities.

Examples of Community Resource Centers

Northern Virginia Training Center's Regional Community Support Center, Fairfax, VA
Regional Evaluation and Assessment for Community Habilitation (REACH) Clinic, Hogan Regional Center, Hathorne, MA
University of Louisville School of Dentistry / Hazelwood Center’s Developmental Dentistry Program, Louisville, KY
Hazelwood Campus / Medical Clinic and Homes, Louisville, KY
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Department of Medicine’s Developmental Medicine Program, New Brunswick, NJ
Fircrest Residential Habilitation Center, Shoreline, WA
Tachachale Dental Clinic, Gainesville, FL
Higginsville Habilitation Center, Higginsville, MO

The Importance of Guardianship

Disclaimer: The following is a great overview of the “frequently asked questions” about guardianship. It was written with Texas guardianship laws in mind, however, much of it generally applicable to any state. You are encouraged to seek the assistance of an attorney in your state when pursuing guardianship.

The Importance of Guardianship

Parent Association for the Retarded of Texas (PART) Newsletter
“No better ADVOCATE than the parent or family”
June 2010

Once a person turns 18, his/her parents are no longer considered the natural guardian. This is true even if the individual has a disability such as mental retardation. Parents no longer have the legal authority to make decisions for the adult with a disability unless they are appointed their child's guardian by a judge. This means that the law presumes that the person with a disability can make all of his/her own decisions.

What is Guardianship?

Guardianship is a legal process whereby someone is given the authority by the court to make decisions regarding major life decisions such as medical care, living arrangements, and sometimes financial management and act on behalf of a person who lacks the ability to comprehend and do those things for him/herself. The process is designed to protect an individual who cannot make decisions for himself/herself from being exploited, abused or neglected.

The Microboard Alternative

It is difficult to believe that a father with a 28-year record of active advocacy for the choice of facility- Bridget based care and adamant objection to community placement for his daughter with profound/severe intellectual disabilities would voluntarily remove his daughter with cerebral palsy from a state run facility where he was president of the parents’ association and place her in a community home.

Yet, Bill Haas, the former chair of VOR’s State Coordinator Committee and principal author of the VOR manual detailing how to effectively challenge forced community placement has in fact done just that.

The desire to find a permanent alternative to a state run facility that would permit his family to direct and control his daughter's care brought Bill Haas to consider the Microboard program. Like many community homes for people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities, the Microboard is paid with Medicaid dollars.