by ALLISON BALL
Ky. Auditor of Public Accounts
While some Kentucky parents encourage their children to leave home in search of brighter opportunities, one Louisville mother sent her son 700 miles away simply to keep him safe after discovering that Kentucky offered no viable solution.
As reported by WHAS 11, Shannon Crawford has a 15-year-old son named Chase with profound autism. His condition contributes to behaviors that result in risk of injury to himself or others, despite no intent to cause harm. Because of Chase’s safety concern, he requires around-the-clock treatment and care, which is most suitable for an inpatient residential facility.
The problem is that Kentucky offers no such facility for children like Chase. Chase is now one of three Louisville youths receiving treatment within the same Wichita, Kan., facility, hundreds of miles from home.
Last month, parents and caretakers of children with autism came from across the Commonwealth to meet in Frankfort and to press state officials over the crisis experienced by the Crawfords and others. Despite the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ role in administering autism resources in Kentucky, not one Cabinet official attended the gathering.
But my team from the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman did. The Ombudsman exists to hold CHFS accountable so that Kentuckians depending upon these public services receive them.
When the media asked the Governor’s administration about this crisis, CHFS deflected the problem to the Community Health for Improved Lives and Development waiver program. The CHILD waiver is a short-term program allowing children not otherwise qualified for Medicaid to receive this service and to spend Medicaid dollars on additional resources.
Unfortunately, CHFS restricted the waiver’s eligibility to 100 children who are experiencing dire circumstances such as homelessness, a medical crisis, or involvement within the justice system. An additional and extreme option is that parents can surrender custody of their children with profound autism to the state to permit the children to qualify for the waiver. That is absurd.
The message from CHFS is clear: No Cabinet-initiated help is coming.
On June 17, members of the General Assembly discussed this problem with CHFS leadership. One lawmaker addressed CHFS Secretary Dr. Steven Stack and shared the stories of the families and caretakers discussed last month in Frankfort. Dr. Stack offered no solutions and said that the cost of receiving out-of-state inpatient care falls to the families.
Dr. Stack’s response to the General Assembly shows that no solution is forthcoming from the Cabinet.
CHFS is also in the process of a substantial reduction in outpatient services at the Lee Specialty Clinic, a Louisville facility that serves individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, where more than a thousand patients will be impacted. While the Cabinet claims that budget cuts forced them to make this drastic of a decision, we know that if CHFS were more efficient with its use of taxpayer funds, it might not have as many budgetary issues as it claims.
CHFS has failed to provide a pathway for families with profoundly autistic children like the Crawfords with the support necessary. This response from CHFS is unacceptable. These kids and families deserve a government that shows up for them—their health, safety, and quality of life depend on it.
