Washington, DC – At the request of Congress, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated states’ monitoring and reporting of injuries and other critical incidents of people with disabilities living in group homes. Following the investigation, a report was issued that cited numerous incidents of abuse of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in group homes. The report found that up to 99% of these critical incidents were not reported to the appropriate law enforcement or state agencies as required. Below is The Arc’s response to the report:

“We are grateful to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General for its report that draws attention to critical incident reporting in group homes and provides states the tools to address the health and safety of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in their communities. Abuse, neglect, and injuries to people with disabilities must be taken seriously, reported to the appropriate law enforcement or state agencies, and prosecuted as appropriate for crimes committed. System failures must be addressed to ensure improvements.

“The OIG report is certainly cause for alarm and signals the need for rededication and reinvestment to ensure that everyone has the freedom to live safe from harm in their communities. It is important to highlight and appropriately address such jarring results, however, we are concerned that some see this as a call for returning to the time when people with IDD were placed in institutions and hidden away from the community. This report only focuses on group homes, not on the whole service system including institutions, the narrowness of the report must be taken into consideration and the report must not be used to eliminate options for community living.

“Throughout The Arc’s history we have fought for community inclusion for individuals with disabilities. Everyone deserves the right to choose where and with whom they live and it has been proven that people with disabilities thrive when living, working, and enjoying life in the community with their peers. We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure that the services people with disabilities rely on for inclusion remain intact because community supports are critical. When people live in their communities they are visible and their neighbors and friends look out for them and know when something is wrong. We must make no mistake, it is life in the community that really is safest,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc.

The Arc advocates for and serves people wit­­h intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including Down syndrome, autism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, cerebral palsy and other diagnoses. The Arc has a network of over 650 chapters across the country promoting and protecting the human rights of people with IDD and actively supporting their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes and without regard to diagnosis.