Centers for Disabled on Brink of Shutdown

About 7,000 severely handicapped people in Orange County will be left with no financing for their care and shelter if a state budget is not signed by Friday, officials announced Monday.

The private, nonprofit Developmental Disabilities Center of Orange County, one of 21 centers statewide that distribute state funds for the severely handicapped or mentally disabled, would be forced to close Friday because state law does not authorize IOUs for private agencies, center officials said.

If it shuts down, there will be no money at all going to care facilities for the county’s 7,000 severely handicapped people until state funding is re-established.

Dwight Tate, chief counselor for the Developmental Disabilities Center, said he does not think any private home will evict patients. But he added that no one knows exactly what will happen. The private care homes for the handicapped all must pay bills, he said, and the state has not sent money for handicapped services since June 30.

“The Developmental Disabilities Center borrowed $6 million from a bank to continue operations once the state budget impasse started July 1,” said Tate. “Now that money is gone, and we can’t get another loan. So if the state doesn’t have a budget signed by Friday, we simply have to close our doors.”

In normal times, the Developmental Disabilities Center helps place severely handicapped children and adults in day care or full-time private care homes. The state then sends money to the center to pay for the various services required by the handicapped.

Since July 1, the state has been paying its own employees with IOUs. But Tate said there is no provision in state law to pay private businesses, including care homes, with promissory notes.

Rhys Burchill, executive director of Developmental Disabilities Area Board XI, a federally funded watchdog agency, said Monday that all handicapped services funded by the state are in jeopardy.

“It’s an absolute crisis,” said Burchill. “I just can’t believe this is happening. This is affecting children and adults alike. We’re urging people to contact the governor and the legislators and make them aware of our concern.”

The state Department of Developmental Services in Sacramento is the state agency responsible for care for the handicapped. Randy Ferguson, chief of adult and family services branch, said the department is worried.

“We’re not sure what’s going to happen,” Ferguson said. “Basically there’s no provision (in state law) of what we can do. There are 21 nonprofit centers, including the one in Orange County, that are the arms of the state for providing for the developmentally disabled. All of them are in the same boat as the one in Orange County, and several are saying they will have to close on Aug. 28.”