Disabled woman forced back to NJ

VOORHEES Lauren Meltzer doesn't want to leave her home of 11 years.

But she might have to, since the New Jersey Department of Human Services has informed the South Jersey native that it will no longer pay for the special needs services she receives in Connecticut. To get state support, the 29-year-old has been told she must come back to New Jersey as part of the state's controversial "Return Home New Jersey" program.

Since it was instituted in 2010, the policy has returned 170 people into programs within New Jersey's borders, where they can be closely monitored by the state. Another 387 affected clients still are in out-of-state programs, according to the department. A review by the state Office of Legislative Services found it's not clear how much money the state is saving.

In response to appeals from upset families, the state Legislature has held hearings on the matter, and lawmakers recently introduced a measure to allow as many as 230 clients to remain in their existing out-of-state programs.

But that's not likely to help Meltzer, who doesn't fit the criteria to stay in her program.

Meltzer has a mild form of autism, along with an intellectual disability, bipolar depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder. As a high school student, she was bullied and struggled with mental health crises.

So at 18, when New Jersey didn't have an appropriate therapeutic program in the state, her family found one elsewhere at Chapel Haven in New Haven, Connecticut. Her school district paid for the program until she was 21, and then the state took over because there were no similar programs here.

She's been at Chapel Haven ever since, in a supportive environment with high-functioning people like herself. She has two jobs, and serves as a mentor for younger clients. There, she is viewed as a successful leader, not as someone with disabilities.

"I have my own apartment," Meltzer said during a recent trip to visit her parents. "I have great friends, who are not just friends. They're my family. And I have a loving boyfriend, who I love very much."

"This program has helped me tremendously. I earned my independence through the residence, which was amazing. I learned how to cook. I learned how to live with a roommate. ... They taught me how to be a mature young woman."

She worries that will be taken away from her soon.

When the family met with a DHS employee over the matter, Meltzer said she hid behind her father, and asked to go back on her anxiety medication.

Removing their daughter from her home "is a deep concern for us," said Lauren's mother, Erna Page-Meltzer.

"When Lauren first went to Chapel Haven, her condition was very unstable," Page-Meltzer said. "We knew she needed a small world that would keep her safe, and yet would give her extreme structure."

New Jersey has struggled to find appropriate placement for other high-functioning adults with special needs and mental illness. Between 30 and 40 percent of people with developmental disabilities also have a mental health disorder, according to a 2008 report by a state task force convened to study the problem.

In response to lawsuits targeting long-term placements in institutions, the state has expanded the number of group homes and community services in recent years. New Jersey has contracts with about 250 provider agencies for such services.

But it has also increased the number of specialized units serving dually diagnosed patients in its state psychiatric hospitals.

There aren't enough services in between, advocates say.

Last week, a Gloucester County parent who asked to remain anonymous disclosed a judge's commitment order and other documents related to her 22-year-old son, who has autism and post-traumatic stress syndrome. After experiencing a violent mental health crisis last year, the man ended up at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital for 10 days, where his condition deteriorated.

He's bounced from one institution to another since, while his family fights to get him into a therapeutic residential program. Dawn Apgar, deputy commissioner of the Division of Developmental Disabilities, was ordered to appear this week before a Superior Court judge and explain why the state has not expedited his residential placement, according to the court document.

"This archaic system is broken," said the man's mother during an interview with the Courier-Post last week. "My son has been in the hospital for seven months. You think we didn't spend a lot of money? And we did nothing. It can't be cheap. Wouldn't it be cheaper to get him back into society, working and healed from the post-traumatic stress?"

His story is not unusual. Because such disabled adults are not entitled to state services, there are long waiting lists for community programs and housing, explained Joe Young, executive director of Disability Rights New Jersey. Some have lingered for decades on a list with 4,000 other names on it.

Indeed, the 2008 state task force report found the system needs "urgent reform." But state funding for the department has remained flat since 2013, while federal funding has increased by more than $4 billion, according to Raymond J. Castro, a senior analyst for N.J. Policy Perspective, who left the state Department of Human Services a decade ago.

"If the state can't get federal funding for it, it's not a priority," Castro said.

"There are huge needs that are not being met," Castro added. "This is the real price that's being paid in our state because we do not have a properly structured budget ... and adequate revenues."

Even so, for every person living in out-of-state programs funded through state tax dollars, there are nearly 1,000 people receiving care here, said Pam Ronan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services. The state receives matching federal funds for those in-state community residential services through its N.J. Medicaid Community Based Care Waiver.

That's the system Meltzer must return to. Because Meltzer lives independently in Connecticut, New Jersey has offered her an apartment voucher here. But housing availability is limited and may not be near an appropriate program, Page-Meltzer said.

"Their answer is, 'Well, then, you can't go to that area.' But that's the only area where the program is. And it's the only program in New Jersey that meets her needs."

Without state support, Meltzer's parents would be forced to pay more than $30,000 a year for their daughter's services at Chapel Haven, not including living expenses. Their other option is to place Meltzer on Connecticut's waiting list for services.

As her mother weighs their choices, Meltzer is refusing to budge. She worries she will regress and go back to her "old ways."

"If I could make my own decision, I'd say, yes, I'm staying at Chapel Haven. Permanently. Because Chapel Haven is my home. I'm not going to forget about that."

Kim Mulford: (856) 486-2448; kmulford@courierpostonline.com