Supported Living Facility in NJ?
May 7, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Herb Heflich, executive of 10 NJ properties for senior citizens, has a plan to create a supported living facility for autistic adults—”a group home without the stuffiness of an institution“—in central NJ:
Designed to give adults with autism around-the-clock care — ranging from physical and occupational therapy to “vocational rehabilitation” — the two-story building proposed by CMG Chelsea would house 42 apartments within its 51,796 square feet.
The units each would include a kitchen, living room, bathroom and one or two bedrooms, according to renderings of the building. Plans also call for a shared dining area, a large kitchen, television and computer rooms, a gym, work shop and a conference room, as well as 64 parking spaces. Twenty employees are expected to be on duty during peak hours.
And Helfich has already been getting plenty of phone calls.
I hope things work out on this, it sounds like a good start. Now (wishful thinking) if there were only something like this available in pretty much any city with a needing populace! (At reasonable prices of course.)
It’s not surprising. Sounds more humane than the present situations.
What organization in New Jersey is responsible for the developmentally disabled. In California we have regional centers. They are involved with the disabled person his entire life, although between four and 22 they take a back seat to the schools.
I asked about the housing situation as the places I’d see on the web were both for the disabled and the destitute. The representative told me that the regional center has contractors which provide housing for developmentally disabled. A typical place has six adults with a mental age between 8 and 16 years. These places have trained staff and often a common eating area. They do not include Section 8 applicants.
Is there anything like regional centers in New Jersey? If so, why can’t the person work with them.
I used to work at the CHUBB headquarters in Warren when they first opened and moved from Short Hills. It is a nice area. My family all lives in Hunterdon County.
Sounds promosing for NJ residents. This is the vocational day training program in San Diego that I want to look into for Matt:
http://www.stmsc.org/
And there is also the Jay Nolan Community Services here in Los Angeles County:
http://www.jaynolan.org/
Easter Seals has many places in Southern CA:
http://southerncal.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=CALA_LosAngelesCountyLocations
I just posted a comment needing moderation due to links. One of them was to Easter Seals services in Southern CA.
I know NJ has COSAC, but no other state has something really like Regional Centers, only CA has them and the IHSS program.
I went to a SEMAC presentation by Office of Client’s Rights (part of Protection & Advocacy) on the IHSS program. I thought it was from IHSS directly so I could learn new stuff, but turned out I knew more than her and she even said I could have done the presentation.
Because of RC and IHSS I will stay in CA and not go elsewhere with my two kids on the spectrum. All my family is in Hunterdon County, NJ.
@mayfly,
I am just trying to sort out all the government organizations—-there is the Department of Developmental Disabilities, but housing is (I think) under the NJ Department of Human Services. NJ is of course much smaller than California and things are much closer together, but there is still tremendous variety within a short distance.
There is simply a complete shortage of placements in the community—group homes and supported living environments. There is a real interest not to have disabled adults in institutions, if such is possible—-I quoted from a letter by the mother of a soon to be 21-year-old autistic adult here.
Regarding institutional placement: My husband has a first cousin, JP, who lives in a state institution and has for most of his adult life. He is severely disabled, cognitively and physically.