Jeneva Burroughs Stone is a member of Little Lobbyists.
I attended the Disability Integration Act reintroduction ceremony as a member of Little Lobbyists, a parent-led organization of families with children with complex medical needs and disabilities. As Elena Hung , the co-founder of Little Lobbyists, said at the ceremony, “We want to make sure [our children] have the support in place to live the best lives and maximize their independence in the community and be here with us and not in institutions far away.”
That statement hit me hard, because my husband and I have been placed in a no-win situation by Maryland. Now, our financial future is pitted against our love for our son...
...The problem isn’t the state’s Developmental Disabilities Administration, which assesses REM waivers, nor the state legislature. It’s the Maryland Division of Nursing Services, which processes applications for skilled nursing services, and the Maryland attorney general’s office, which reflexively backs up the nursing division’s internal guidelines that keep private-duty nursing hours at a minimum for Maryland families. In effect, the attorney general’s office is pitting the implementation of one Medicaid program against another at the expense of people such as my son...
