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On this page, you can find archived news stories, but the newer stories have been posted at our blog.
Click here for http://communitynowfreedom.blogspot.com/
U.S. Department of Justice findings on Lubbock State School (Link)
U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive SS report (Link)
Texas State Auditor's Report on SS (July 2008) (Link)
Texas Legislative Budget Board findings addressing shift from SS to community settings (Nov. 2008) (Link)
Lawmakers may let agency decide state schools' fates
Legislature shouldn't make centers' closings political, they say
By JANET ELLIOTT
Dec. 27, 2008
Critics want action on state schools
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Department of Justice Findings letter on State Schools - 12/2/08
Feds fault Texas' treatment of mentally disabled
By JEFF CARLTON Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
Dec. 2, 2008, 6:20PM
Justice Department blasts state schools for the disabled, threatens to sue Texas 10:08 PM CST on Tuesday, December 2, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW and ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com; rtgarrett@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – Residents of Texas' state schools for the disabled are in so much danger of neglect and mistreatment that their constitutional rights have been violated, the U.S. Department of Justice charges in a scathing report sent to the state this week.
By Celinda Emison (Contact)
Saturday, December 20, 2008
New Jersey's disabled wait years for homes
by Susan K. Livio/The Star-Ledger
Sunday November 30, 2008, 8:12 AM
Disabled man assaulted at Austin State School, police say
Injured man in critical condition
By Andrea Ball
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
State schools for people with disabilities failing at placing patients in community-based homes, audit finds
12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, July 15, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN
– The state institutions for people with disabilities are failing to find community-based homes for many patients who want them, and have hired several state school employees who should've been ineligible because of previous abuse and neglect records, according to a state audit released Monday.
July 14, 2008, 3:02PM
State schools hired 10 despite past abuse
By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press
AUSTIN
— The state agency that serves people with disabilities had 10 workers who should have been unemployable because of a history of abuse or neglect, according to an audit released Monday.
July 14, 2008, 10:50PM
Mentally disabled want better housing
Audit finds most prefer small homes to state schools
By JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2008
Click here to read the United States Department of Justice report on Lubbock State School.
Nurse shortage, leadership cited as state school issues
Official says problems addressed at sites for mentally retarded
04:59 PM CDT on Friday, April 6, 2007
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com
Enrollment of children in Texas state schools surging
08:39 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW eramshaw@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – The number of children living in state schools for the disabled has grown by 80 percent in the last five years, a trend advocates say threatens decades of work to move Texas' most fragile youths back into family homes.
It's the result of hopelessly long waiting lists for services at home.
Scrutiny of Denton State School opens debate about care
Some say scrutiny a sign that advocates are being heard
10:57 AM CDT on Friday, March 28, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN
– A U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Denton State School – the second federal inquiry in two years into a Texas facility for people with disabilities – is reigniting the fierce debate over how the state cares for its most vulnerable residents.
Click here to read the whole article.
Disability rights groups urge closure of Lubbock State School
17 residents have died over 18 months at facility, federal investigators find.
By Corrie MacLaggan
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, February 19, 2007
Two months after federal investigators described grim conditions at the Lubbock State School, advocates for people with disabilities are calling on lawmakers to close it.
"It's truly disturbing to think that there are individuals living in an environment of abuse and neglect and violence and the state is paying . . . for that to happen,"
Click here to read the whole article.
