The following comments were submitted to the DC Office of Disability Rights in response to the Olmstead Community Integration Plan, “DC—One Community for All” May 3, 2021 draft and May 26, 2021 Town Hall during the 30-day comment period that ended on June 4, 2021..
To the extent possible, these comments will be addressed in the final 2021-2024 Olmstead Plan by the District Government.
Received on June 4, 2021
Received on June 4, 2021:
- Joint comments of the Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities
- DC Developmental Disabilities Council
Thank you for allowing testimony from public citizens in the hope of bringing sustainable changes to the lives of DC residents. Looking at the categories of substantial need I admit my concerns as follows:
There are governing agencies that must "collaborate effort" immediately by sharing "data reports" quarterly as required and they are:
CFSA - Child and Family Service Administration
DYRS - Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services
YSC - Youth Service Center
DBH - Department of Behavioral Health c/o Core Service Agencies
ADULT PROTECTION SERVICES*
DHS - Department of Human Services
MPD - Metropolitan Police Department
Each of these agencies must present "statistic data reports" quarterly to one another, to the City Council members, and to the Mayor's Office. I sat in the chamber of a council member in March 2020 to testify hearing openly that "several agencies had not submitted a data report by the date of the hearing and I found that offensive to public accountability. The statistic report "only has to be numerical figures, graphs or presentation that can compare actual "numbers of persons in need" with transparency and numerical data is NOT a privacy violation to any measure! The information obtained must be for citizenship identity with documents of proof. I personally believe there are too many "unaccounted identities" of persons freely served "through homelessness" population in DC on a daily basis which can easily displace residents residing in DC who require help. Without data reports the numbers of who is being helped when or by whom cannot be accurate.
The collaboration of these agencies will narrow down how to serve families and individuals. Children must be the priority of safety for all measures. In order for effective care to proceed for anyone the data from three (3) categorical services must emerge:
Abuse Recovery Support - number of actual disabled
Trauma-Induced Recovery Support - number of actual affected by disabled
Addiction Prevention - reduce overdose/disabled
These categories actually do evolve to some proportion of public awareness however, it is received as a "blame concern" from one agency to or of another and this has to stop! How can our public trust our safety when the discord happens among the most basic protecting agencies for families and communities? Agencies divided will not stand against the damaging odds happening to all of us. A united front performed by conferences where ALL these agencies are present together and watch a wonderful world of frowns turn into smiles! It's 2021 and there truly are no secrets left because the worse of our faults have fallen on younger teens and children. Please feel free to modify this information to fit the need of an action plan activity and thank you for viewing this message.
Thank you all for being dedicated to our lives during these very difficult times.
Received on May 26, 2021:
Where are youth within this initiative? What is the true number of youth found eligible for services ? Why is IQ still a determined for eligibility?
