Some relatives of Rosewood Center residents said yesterday they remain concerned about what will happen to their disabled family members when the state shuts down the long-troubled facility next year, and that they consider many of the group homes where officials want to move residents to be unacceptable.
Since January, when Gov. Martin O'Malley announced he would close the facility by executive order, about 40 of the 166 residents who were housed there have left. Rosewood officials have found homes for another 30 residents and have completed personal plans for 82 others.
But about 10 families who gathered at Rosewood yesterday for a news conference said those plans have not offered adequate arrangements. They want O'Malley to reconsider his decision.
O'Malley, citing reports of abuse, neglect and mistreatment, ordered Rosewood closed by June 30, 2009.
Although advocates for the disabled cheered when the governor announced the closing, the families of some residents have protested, saying the state is not doing enough to help their relatives.
Joan Druso, whose brother Michael Jarowski has been a Rosewood resident for 28 years, said she has not had time to find a suitable place for her brother because of her job and other family responsibilities, and that Rosewood staff have provided her with few suitable suggestions.
"I'm having problems with my service coordinator," Druso said. "It's their job to find us a place."
Michael S. Chapman, director of the state's Developmental Disabilities Administration, which is overseeing the closure, said he has received no complaints from families participating in the process. Chapman and Rosewood Director Robert Day estimated that about a dozen families are refusing to look into alternative arrangements, though both said that they expect to have the disputes resolved by the end of the year.
"The bottom line is the governor has announced the closure, and it's our job to make sure everybody goes through the discharge process and finds alternative places for their loved ones," Chapman said.
Harry Yost, who heads a group of Rosewood families opposed to the closing, estimated that about 70 relatives want to keep their loved ones at the facility.
He said he is refusing to participate in the discharge process and is hoping the federal government will intervene to keep the center open. Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into Rosewood to determine whether conditions at the facility violated residents' civil rights.
Federal authorities are examining the treatment of residents, including safety issues and medical care, and plans for their placement in the community.
Yost, whose son Larry has been at the facility for 46 years, said he doubts Rosewood officials will find homes for all the residents by next summer.
"We haven't looked at any other facilities because we have everything we want here," Yost's wife, Tink, said.
Last year, the state Office of Health Care Quality reported 130 incidents of "abuse, neglect, mistreatment and injuries of unknown origins" in a two-month period.
In recent months, no significant problems have come to light in the incident reports that Rosewood submits to the Maryland Disability Law Center.
