Homes for Retarded

* This will be a very special holiday season for some mentally retarded adults, because it will be enjoyed in the setting of small group homes. At least 18 individuals, my son included, were moved recently from an outmoded community-based congregate care facility into publicly funded, privately operated small group homes. It is as a grateful parent that I write.

Currently, under directives from the state Department of Developmental Services, a community-based center for 40 mentally retarded men and women has begun decentralizing into five homes with six well-supervised residents to a house. Ten residents remain at the original site. This small housing development fills a real need, for never have there been enough appropriate small-group homes.

My firsthand observation has been with my son’s residence, where a remarkable feature of this new program was the training it provided residents for the new lifestyle. Staff counselors discussed what it would be like to live in a house with only a few individuals plus staff and outlined some of the new routines. Parents were involved in special meetings, exchanging happy impressions and concerns about the new living conditions. Families were brimming with renewed hope that now their loved ones would have a better life.

Hopefully, members of the community will reach out to the newcomers and help their pioneering efforts mesh nicely with the larger world.

MURIEL COHEN

Los Angeles