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Advocate group for disabled fighting for its life

By CURTIS KRUEGER
Published April 28, 2006

Past and current members of a state-mandated watchdog committee for disabled people and foster children criticized state government Thursday for the "the breakdown and probable elimination" of the group.

They said the Statewide Advocacy Council, as well as local affiliated councils, had been given roadblock after roadblock from state officials in its attempts to respond to complaints about abuses in the mental health and child welfare system.

"Over the years there have been hundreds of problems discovered by our councils," said Richard Durstein, a longtime Pinellas activist for the mentally ill who quit his position on the statewide council in frustration. Now, he questions whether it can continue to ferret out problems.

Volunteer members of the local and statewide councils investigate complaints such as the abuse of Baker Act procedures and improper medication of foster children. Children and disabled adults phone in complaints because they see a hotline number posted in facilities.

In the past, the councils' work has exposed criminal behavior and shut down some troubled programs. The councils are set up by state law.

But past and current members of the councils said they had encountered several problems recently, including:

Changes in the phone system for the councils have meant that people calling in complaints get a message saying that the voice mail is full. Durstein said the councils fielded as many as 20,000 complaints a year five years ago. But statewide, complaints have been fewer than 500 since December 2005. State officials' new interpretations of various laws mean the councils can't get case files of clients of the Department of Children and Families in many cases, which prevents them from investigating complaints.

These and other changes have so damaged the councils, that it has become difficult to find new volunteers, members said.

Judy Turnbaugh, who has been active in Pinellas County with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, said the changes have made it difficult for the councils to do such jobs as investigating the mental health treatment Tampa Bay area residents have received since the closing of a state-funded mental hospital, G. Pierce Wood.

But Charlie Liem, state health and human services policy coordinator, said late last year that state officials cannot give out confidential medical information.

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 01:15:08]