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Be Their Voice
“Unsubstantiated neglect?! That is your finding after a yearlong investigation?! My child was starved, locked in her room, locked in the basement, drugged, denied medication, lost all her hair and teeth, has been thrown into a psych ward where she was restrained unable to communicate that she was in excruciating pain from dental decay and an infected vulvar abscess, developed Rhabdomyolysis, ended up in a coma on a ventilator, has been made homeless illegally and without cause, had her MARS records falsified, body bruised … and this is the best conclusion DHS can produce after wasting a year to “investigate”?
Parent of 19 Year Old Daughter, Who Had Lived in a State-Licensed Group Home February 2023 Annual Report
“I was just informed that (my son) is being taken to the ER due to … double dosing of medication. This is the second hospitalization due to (group home) staff. I am in fear for the safety of my son’s health. I need him placed where he (will) get the proper care.”
Parent of 19 Year Old Son, Living in a State-Licensed Group Home February 2023 Annual Report
“We’re here now. The bleakest of places. A special needs no-man’s land. A place where the running timer finally stops, and life is suspended in a desolate gray expanse…. I didn’t know about this place until I realized we were living in it. This is not the special needs universe that the world had taught me about. The sweet mentally challenged boy from my neighborhood
who played games with us growing up. Dustin Hoffman having a little tantrum because he can’t watch Judge Wapner at four o’clock. The genius autistic boy doctor on TV. The young man with special needs who collects carts at the local grocery store. This is the special needs world that’s hidden behind closed doors…. Where the rules of inclusion don’t apply because the child has little to no independence. The child is too behavioral. Too dangerous.”
Peg Kerswell, New Jersey Parent of a Young Woman with Severe Autism
From her 2023 Book, “Girl Storm" Annual Report
