Maternal COVID-19 infection associated with offspring neurodevelopmental disorders

Maternal COVID-19 infection associated with offspring neurodevelopmental disorders | Molecular Psychiatry

Nonprofit Fosters Communities for Adults with Disabilities

Twice a day, a group of adults with disabilities can be seen walking near Gilliam Place, an affordable housing building where they live.

On a Tuesday morning in May, they showed ARLnow their stomping grounds. A recent rain turned everything a bright green, and cicadas droned in the background.

This little community on Columbia Pike was the first to be established by the volunteer-run nonprofit Our Stomping Ground, which connects adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to independent living opportunities and helps them build communities in Northern Virginia.

On the walk, resident Max Loftis, who has autism, said living at Gilliam Place is a great experience.

“I get a lot of opportunities to cook and I’ve made great meals,” he said. “I like the feeling of independence.”

In a different decade, Loftis could have been placed in a state-run institution where he may have been deprived of the ability to cook for himself...

https://www.arlnow.com/2021/06/04/nonprofit-fosters-communities-for-adults-with-disabilities/

Family Suing Prince George's County Schools Over Handling of Alleged Campus Sexual Assault

...The sexual encounter at the heart of the lawsuit involves a 14-year-old girl with developmental disabilities and up to six young men. The alleged assault occurred on campus during school hours in April 2018, according to the lawsuit and police incident reports, and at least a portion of the encounter was recorded on mobile phones... 

...Prince George's County police told the I-Team the school did identify three students believed to be involved and detectives forwarded the case to the office of the State’s Attorney, but charges were not filed. 

A spokeswoman for State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, who was not in office at the time of the alleged assault, said the office does not comment on cases involving juveniles...

...According to the lawsuit, a gym teacher “interrupted” part of the encounter but “did not assist” the victim and failed to report the incident...

...In that follow-up police report, the incident was reclassified as a "second-degree rape" and listed six unknown suspects. 

The girl’s grandmother told News4 that neither she nor her husband were notified about the incident until the second day, when their granddaughter was sent for a forensic exam...

...The grandparents told the I-Team they don't know if, or how many, of the boys were disciplined by the school, but they said their granddaughter was suspended for a week...

https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/family-suing-prince-georges-county-schools-over-handling-of-alleged-campus-sexual-assault/2682911/?fbclid=IwAR3CgvIwaZs1uFuTw7-5Sq3VlLImWYjBJm3JAM2C_XJeiq3g9h8rNaCEmuU

Audit critical of state agency that funds services for people with developmental disabilities

The Maryland agency responsible for funding community-based services for people with developmental disabilities had significant issues with its process, failed to comply with state procurement regulations and did not properly monitor services it funded, a critical legislative audit released Friday said.

The Developmental Disabilities Administration failed to identify millions of dollars in overpayments and missed out on millions more in federal reimbursements at a time that the agency’s website says there is high demand for funding for services and it cannot meet all requests.

“We determined that DDA’s accountability and compliance level was unsatisfactory,” the audit said. “The primary factors contributing to the unsatisfactory rating were the significance of our audit findings and the number of repeat findings.”

The audit found that the agency had not sufficiently addressed five of the ten findings from a previous audit.

The Developmental Disabilities Administration plans, develops policies and funds Maryland’s system of services for people with developmental disabilities and their families. Its community-based services are funded through Medicaid, a waiver program or state-funded services.

In one significant issue revealed by the audit, the agency did not identify recurring overpayments made over several years totaling $1.7 million to a provider. Instead those overpayments were discovered by the provider.

The overpayments were of an improper designation in 36 people receiving shared living services that cost less than the residential services they were improperly designated for over a period between December 2014 and February 2017.

But the auditors also believed that the total amount could have been higher because the Developmental Disabilities Administration failed to identify whether overpayments were made outside of that time period.

“We estimated that additional overpayments totaling $2.4 million were made to this provider for these 36 consumers during the period from July 2011 through November 2014,” the audit said. “We did not attempt to identify other consumers which should have been billed for shared living services rather than residential services and to estimate the full extent of overpayments made to this provider or to other providers.”..

https://thedailyrecord.com/2019/07/12/audit-critical-of-state-agency-that-funds-services-for-people-with-developmental-disabilities/

LINK TO AUDIT

Maryland Developmental Disabilities Coalition Town Hall Meeting with DHMH Secretary Joshua Sharfstein

Maryland Developmental Disabilities Coalition Dedicated to the rights and equality of life of people with developmental disabilities in Maryland

DATE November 13, 2013 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.  LOCATION The Bain Center 5470 Ruth Keeton Way Columbia, MD   No RSVP Needed

TOWN HALL MEETING

WITH DHMH Secretary, Joshua Sharfstein    & DDA Acting Director, Patrick Dooley  Come hear directly from DHMH and DDA leadership about current priorities and plans, major activities & key issues. The Town Hall is an opportunity to gain information first-hand, express your opinions, and weigh-in on important issues.   WHO SHOULD ATTEND People with developmental disabilities and their families, service providers, advocates, legislators, and other interested individuals.