Arkansas State Report for VOR Conference

June 4, 2010

  1. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the Conway Human Development Center in January 2009 after 6 years of investigation/negotiations. Trial is set for September 8, 2010.
  2. In May 2010, DOJ filed a separate lawsuit against all 6 development centers in the state of Arkansas claiming the state is out of compliance with the ADA and concluded that systemic ADA violations exist statewide.
  3. The DOJ made two separate requests since January 2010 to change the scope of the CHDC lawsuit in “mid-stream”.
  4. Filed motion to immediately cease admissions of school-age children to CHDC to “prevent potential deaths”.
  5. Filed motion to remove the ADA portion in the CHDC lawsuit to be included in the lawsuit against all 6 centers.
  6. The judge dismissed both motions filed by the DOJ, stating that the state has already made preparations for defending the case “as-is” and it would be unfair to all parties to change the course of the lawsuit this late in the legal process.
  7. The P&A organization in Arkansas (Disability Rights Center or DRC) has been publicly criticizing the state, parents, and the HDCs in the newspapers, television, etc. on a regular basis.
  8. On May 18, 2010, Governor Mike Beebe announced his intention to close the Alexander HDC due to losing Medicaid funding for being out of compliance with CMS.
  9. Our belief is that the closure of the Alexander HDC was the ultimate result of focusing the clientele of this HDC to dually-diagnosed (mostly mentally ill clients), some of which were court-ordered due to behavioral problems. Some of which have very little to no Mental Retardation diagnosis.
  10. Alan Fortney, the VOR state coordinator for Arkansas, was deposed by the DOJ on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, just 2 days before this VOR meeting. (will have to give details of this deposition at the meeting).
  11. The eyes of the nation are on Arkansas with regard to the DOJ lawsuits. The P&A organizations across the nation have been using the Arkansas case as a “rallying cry” to other states.
  12. Tom York, of the York Legal Group and speaker at VOR conference, is representing the state of Arkansas in the CHDC case listed above.
  13. We hope to share our “success” in the next few months!!!

Respectfully submitted by Alan Fortney, Arkansas State Coordinator for VOR.