Developmental Disability News: RI will miss 2024 deadline in 9-yr-old consent decree – Gina Macris
Rhode Island will get more time to comply with a nine-year-old consent decree intended to help adults with developmental disabilities lead meaningful lives, a federal judge said Aug. 1. Despite major progress, the state will miss the original deadline at the end of June next year. The new deadline has not yet been set. After hearing evidence for two hours on the status of compliance efforts, Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court ordered state officials to meet with an independent court monitor to negotiate an “addendum” to the consent decree. The monitor and a Justice Department lawyer roundly praised the state’s recent $75 million investment in developmental disabilities reform as well as an overall strategy for improving employment and integration in the community for adults with developmental disabilities. But they said actual implementation, measured by changes in people’s lives, falls far short of the progress needed to reach ful...