Requirements+for+Workers

Cuomo to Tighten Requirements for Workers in Homes for Disabled

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[|Website here] ===== By Danny Hakim Published: March 29, 2011 There are many times when the ill treatment of disabled people goes unnoticed. However New York’s Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration want to change this problem. They want to address the abuse in homes for those who are developmentally disabled who are being taken care of by the state. The move is now requiring workers in these institutions to have a high school diploma and they must take psychological and drug test, which is in accordance with the copy of the press that highlights the changes that was offered to the New York Times. There is one policy that has not changed it that is the policy that does not hinder convicted felons from working in institutions with the disabled. There are different kinds of managers that oversee this establishment of new policies, such as the [|Office for People with Developmental Disabilities]. They will follow up and analyze all the reports on the issues in the institutions such as abuse and neglect. This included reports made by the state institutions and home outside of the state regulations that have been reported on these problems towards disabled members. Now there will be more direct care from the worker and clinicians that have been enforced by the state and this is what the new training has provided. Supervisors are required to take note of this change and also enforce the new policies within the institutions. To begin this process, managers will send out a memorandum to nonprofit groups to help them make their first steps into this new way of ordering the places for the disabled. Courtney Burke, is the head manager that has been responsible for the action being taken o this new process. She says that these first steps are very important to get started. “We must thoroughly examine and reform the system to fulfill our duty and privilege to serve and protect the vulnerable individuals in our system from abuse and neglect,” Ms. Burke said in a statement. There has been so many problems that have come up in the past year that were so distrubibng that this action had to come about. For example, the Times found many cases of employees who sexually abused, beat or mocked disabled occupants were never addressed about their action nor fired. The majority of the disabled residents have [|Down syndrome], [|autism] and [|cerebral palsy]. Regardless of this new policy, the agencies of the institutions are required to send in annual reports from the residents and are also entailed to have inspectors come in to the institution to evaluate the behaviors and actions taken within the institutions. “A vast majority of the roughly 13,000 allegations of abuse that come in annually are handled internally, despite a state law requiring that incidents in which a crime may have been committed be reported to law enforcement. Records turned over by the state show that fewer than 5 percent of allegations of abuse were referred to law enforcement, though the Cuomo administration is currently reviewing the agency’s recordkeeping practices under previous administrations.” There is now a web site, people.first@opwdd.ny.gov, set up for any person to suggest enhancement programs, comments, questions, or complaints about any institution to make it better or to address any issue they may have with the organization.