A Step Back for Disabled Youths

Families Fear Cuts in County Services May Harm Progress of Mentally Challenged

Mary Yates, 22, an energetic young woman whose mental disabilities leave her with the functioning abilities of a first- to third-grader, is preparing for a big day in June: She is set to graduate from Fairfax County schools, where she has been a student for nearly 20 years.

Most years, Mary's parents, Bill and Elizabeth Yates, would be planning for what amounts to college for recent Fairfax graduates with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and mental retardation. The county offers a program for such graduates that assists them in developing skills to live independently in the community, including helping them find jobs. Many jurisdictions throughout the state can't afford such programs, but in Fairfax, the service has been sustained by local dollars on which many parents of mentally disabled adults have come to count.

But the county's yawning budget gap this year means that the $1 million a year in local funding is likely to be allocated for other programs, as agencies are faced with dramatic reductions. For the Yateses and the parents of about 50 other soon-to-be graduates, it means having to make difficult choices about how they will care for their children, who for years have been slowly developing independence at county schools but now might have no place to go.

"It's very possible she may be graduating to the couch," said Bill Yates, 56, a contract instructor in Reston.

The county's efforts to balance its fiscal 2010 budget will mean belt tightening for dozens of county programs, large and small. The effort to close a $650 million budget gap could mean shorter library hours and a leaner school operating budget, among many other spending reductions. The county Department of Family Services, for instance, which provides foster care, welfare and other services, will cut 500 child-care slots in the upcoming year, increasing what is already a months-long wait for working class families.

But in addition to the cuts in high-profile programs, there are other programs that offer specialized services that fly below the radar, such as the one Mary's parents were counting on. The county has been offering specialized services, loosely known as the "MR grad" program, for mentally disabled high school graduates for about 20 years. The program has become part of the rich offerings for the disabled for which the county has become known. The program includes intensive therapy and paying for the young people to work in hotels folding towels or do other small jobs. Generally, the clients can stay in the program for as long as they need, but they usually move on to group homes or other living situations.

"For some time now, we've been able to offer this service because of some of the extra revenue we've been able to budget," said Alan Wooten, director of mental retardation services for the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board. He said the agency has had to cut $5 million out of its budget for services to the mentally disabled and $11.4 million out of all of its offerings.

In the short term, the projected cut for the Yateses could mean one of them giving up his or her job to stay home with their daughter, who can't be left alone for long stretches without supervision.

But in the long term, the parents fear, the service cut could slow Mary's development. In many cases, young adults like Mary have developed the ability to bathe and take care of themselves after years of careful discipline from their loved ones or therapists.

"The momentum would be lost if she were left sitting here," Bill Yates said.

Mary can largely cook her microwave meals and function autonomously at home with some supervision. But it's taken many years and lots of hard work on the part of her parents, teachers and other support staff members who have worked with her. At the Phillips School in Annandale, she has learned these skills over time. The MR day program would have been the next step in her education.

Elizabeth Yates, 54, a second-grade teacher for a Christian school, said that normally this would be a time of incredible growth for her daughter.

"It's kind of exciting to think that she would be going into the real world, transitioning into adulthood in her own way," she said.

How many of these students will continue their growth is a concern of many parents. Gina Latcheran is the single mother of Eric, a 21-year-old man with Down syndrome. He is also scheduled to graduate in June, and his mother, like the Yateses, is uncertain where he will go without the day-support program. She said she had thought one option would be a program at George Mason University, but it costs nearly $20,000 a year and space is limited. On some days Eric might be able to join her at work, but she knows that's not a permanent solution.

But more importantly, Latcheran said, the potential cut in the program erodes the work that many have put in to help her son develop his independence.

"It's really not fair to the teachers and other people who have worked with him for so long," she said. "And it will be devastating for him."