Westwood resident Patricia Feeley would like to see her disabled son Michael settled in a community-based group home.
But Feeley said officials at the state Department of Mental Retardation were reluctant to place him in the residential program, even though the 22-year-old, who is mentally disabled, autistic, diabetic and obsessive-compulsive, would be eligible.
"I believe it's because they lack the funding to provide the service, which Michael really needs," Feeley said.
Leo Sarkissian, executive director for Arc of Massachusetts, a group with 22 chapters statewide that advocates for the developmental disabled, said such stories are all too common. The department's services have been underfunded for years.
Now state budget writers struggling to close a $1.3 billion budget gap are considering cutting the department's budget by $4 million. Sarkissian said the cut would mean even longer delays for some 4,000 developmentally disabled people waiting for financial aid or housing.
Michael Feeley is one of those waiting for community residential support, a program that places developmentally disabled adults in group homes in their communities.
His mother said a group home would offer Michael a chance to socialize and develop new skills among other disabled people.
"Michael wants the same things everybody else wants," Feeley said. "He wants some freedom to choose what he's going to do with his day and make choices about activities and socialization."
Michael received special education until this March, when he turned 22 - the age when his eligibility ends.
"At that point we're dependent on what the DMR has for funding," Feeley said.
According to the Arc of Massachusetts, Michael is one of 610 disabled young adults who will reach 22 this year - the cutoff point for the special education system. That number is a 33 percent increase over 2003.
But under the latest budget proposal, the community residential program would be cut by more than $500,000.
"They'll terminate beds and houses with that cut," Sarkissian said.
Advocates say another department initiative needs more, not less, funding. The family support program provides funding to approximately 14,000 families for therapy, ramps, transportation and special education tutors for the disabled living at home.
Currently, 3,000 people are waiting for family support and the list is likely to grow by another 400 this year.
In the past seven years family support has received one increase of $500,000. This year Arc of Massachusetts lobbied for an additional $3 million in funding, saying it would help an estimated 1,500 people.
The Senate budget proposal would increase family support by $950,000, which advocates estimate would help less than 17 percent of those waiting for services.
Sarkissian said most of the 610 young adults who live at home will also require Turning 22, a program that provides job training and day services for those who lose special education funding when they reach age 22.
Although each Turning 22 client receives an average of $22,000 in services annually, the Senate budget proposal would provide no new funding for the program.
Sarkissian said without Turning 22 services, many would stay at home with nothing to do. Often parents quit their jobs to be at home with them.
"If there's no funding, he's at home with his 60-year-old mom," Feeley said.
The number of school children diagnosed with autism in Massachusetts has increased annually, straining the department's budget even more. In the past five years the number of these children has nearly doubled, reaching more than 7,500, according to the state Department of Education.
Under the Senate budget proposal, the state's autism division, which provides support services for families, would receive some $2.8 million in new funds.
Sarkissian said even with that increase, the department would be short nearly $2 million needed to provide services to all families.
But Sarkissian also said in this fiscal climate, Arc did not expect to see that $2 million increase.
With state budget writers cutting funding requests, advocates for domestic violence victims, elder care, mental health, education, health care and more are pitted against each other for state money.
Massachusetts is not alone in this respect. Developmental disability advocates in 20 other states including Virginia, Colorado, Ohio and Texas have joined a campaign by Arc of the United States to push for more money.
Celine Fortin, executive director of the Arc of New Jersey, said the state's Department of Human Services managed to continue the level of hands-on services despite Gov. Jon Corzine's attempt to cut state spending by 10 percent to compensate for an estimated budget gap of $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion.
"There weren't any cuts, but there weren't any gains either," Fortin said.
Fortin said funding is as much a problem in New Jersey as in Massachusetts. The state currently has 8,012 people waiting for community residences, a total that has doubled in 10 years and continues to grow by two people per day.
For the thousands in Massachusetts still awaiting services, Medicaid-funded day programs such as community-based daytime therapy for disabled adults, plug some gaps, Sarkissian said.
Feeley said the state department told her less than two months before Michael's 22nd birthday that he would receive day habilitation and transportation services after he left special education. Michael still lives at home.
"I'm very worried about the future for him," Feeley said. "I'd like to be able to participate in the planning for what's going to happen to my son when I'm no longer around."
