I am the proud and exhausted father of a ten year old with Cerebral Palsy and PMD. Due to deep cuts in South Carolina's support for its disabled citizens, my wife and I are even more deeply exhausted than usual, and near the point of emotional and physical breakdown.
We discovered in today's Post & Courier that these family-destroying cuts are due not just to the usual underfunding and idiotic politics of our state, but actual fraud.
In brief:
A group of disabled residents has asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to stop a deep round of cuts next month to in-home care because they say state officials have put millions in federal stimulus money in a "rainy-day fund" that should have been used to avoid the cutbacks.
The group filed a lawsuit that alleges the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs has received $54 million in stimulus money this year but that 90 percent of it, intended to preserve jobs and protect Medicaid services, has been transferred to a reserve fund created by the Legislature -- what the suit describes as a violation of the stimulus bill that could put South Carolina's future funding at risk.
Read this. Then go throw some stuff and scream. I'll wait. If you have any history of aneurism in your family, you may want to skip it:
Lawsuit filed in SC Supreme court - Stimulus Funds for Disabled transferred illegally
In the words of Inigo Montoya,"Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."
Things are bad for everybody in SC, but for the disabled and their families, "Nightmare" may be too mild a word. Because we don't get to wake up.
The article quotes Carolyn Myers of Camden, chairmother for the membership of the advocacy group Voices for the Voiceless, who may have to institutionalize her 31 year old son, Albert, as a result of the cuts.
What this article does not mention is that there is probably nowhere for Ms Meyers to place her son.
Other effects of the cutbacks to services in our state include the closing of facilities of the disabled, and the reduction of staff, support, and available beds at the ones that remain open.
Our irresponsible state government has created a situation in which it is physically and financially impossible for families to care for these children, and there is no place to bring them where they can be cared for.
Our daughter, Camille, has Cerebral Palsy and PMD. Due to a screw-up in the neonatal ICU at a State hospital (Yay tort reform! No care money for you!).
She has recently experienced a growth spurt and is now too large and heavy for one person to lift alone. So we need at least two people with her at all times, or we need to get a Hoyer-style lift.
We cannot get funds for a lift, and we really cannot afford to purchase one on our own. We are already going broke from paying supplemental caregivers so that we can have some semblance of a life.
Our service coordinator tells us she has another client who is in her 80's, widowed, and has a 60 year old son who is non-ambulatory and 200 lbs. She currently has two broken wrists, and they can't get her a lift, either, because of the cutbacks. When she dies, where does her son go, since we have closed all placement?
What "Rainy Day" are these idiots saving up for?? We, like so many parents, are physically and emotionally breaking down. Both my wife and I have repeated back injuries.
In addition to my day job, we run a small business - a dance and yoga studio. Which is probably the only reason we're not in wheelchairs ourselves at this point. Of course, it's falling apart because we can't devote the attention we need to it (and the general lack of disposable income among our former clientele), rather than growing and building local jobs.
We would be happy to pay for health insurance for our daughter, were such a thing available, but with CP she has been uninsurable since birth. And I know we ain't gettin' no public option.
We are at the point of looking at moving out of South Carolina to a state with a less stupid government, in order to get our daughter the care she needs. We'll have to sell our house (good luck in this economy), get new jobs (ditto), and close our business (sorry, employees), but there is nothing adequate here in SC.
And now we find out that it is not just from the usual underfunding and selfish politics, but from outright fraud.
On top of this mess, this abuse of stimulus funds may result in the state having to return $225 million to the federal government that we could really frickin' use right now.
Every time I think I could not be more disgusted with SC's government, they surprise me.
Incidentally, my Kos name should probably be "CamillesDad2", for accuracy. Her first dad committed suicide, because he felt like he couldn't take care of his family.
That's not in me, but I can understand how he felt.
Thanks for listening.
UPDATED
Here's the link to today's article. I'll keep y'all informed as this tangled web unravels: Family Crises from Cuts
If nothing else, I'm getting a therapeutic flame war out of the Teabaggers.