PETITION
Please don’t cause homes for the Disabled to be closed ~!
As residents and/or property owners in your District, we encourage
you to make changes to the Texas 2012-2013 budget so that handicapped persons will NOT lose their homes in the HCS or IC-FMR programs, hundreds of jobs by care staff will NOT be lost, and private providers of this much-needed care will NOT be forced out of business.
PLEASE look for alternative ways of funding services in order to reduce spending, or consider additional sources of revenue. The Legislature is encouraged to exercise considerable caution when exploring alternative ways of providing services recognizing that some options may also have serious negative consequences to those most needing assistance. Not only are private providers more cost effective, if they are forced out of business, an increased reliance on more expensive settings such as state schools, hospitals and criminal justice facilities for Texans with mental or behavioral challenges will further negatively impact our budget.
Consolidating disabled people in large facilities, or larger homes will be abusive and a disservice to them and an improper way to treat them due to a great variation in their needs.
NAME ADDRESS
Feb. 10, 2011
Texas State Sen. Carlos I. Uresti, http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist19/dist19.htm, has sponsored Senate Bill 269 which would create a Foster Children's Bill of Rights, which would enumerate a child's rights under state and federal law relating to the full range of their care and well being. That includes the right to be free from abuse, neglect, exploitation, discrimination and harassment, and the right to food, clothing, shelter, education and health care.
The bill would also address rights relating to privacy, health treatment, behavior intervention, placement with siblings and contact with family members, participation in extracurricular or community activities; interactions with teachers, church members and others outside the foster care system, and religious activities.
A similar Bill of Rights absolutely needs to be put in place for the disabled (and perhaps for nursing home residents ~! With enforcement provisions and sanctions or penalties if violated ~!
Then we need CITIZEN ADVOCATES to make SURE these "laws" are adhered to and followed ~!!! While Texas does have a State "Ombudsman" for the disabled, all I've ever gotten there was kinds words of sympathy -- NO ACTION ~!
So, two things come to mind: a) if reading this strikes a cord with you, WRITE Sen. Uresti supporting SB 269 and b) since Rep. Ron Paul said in an interview with Dr. Mercola this month that one person appealing to politicians is ignored. To be a real "squeaky wheel", you need something like 5,000 people contacting their duly elected -- letters and phone calls, as well as appearances at public meetings, do have an effect.
Right now, I'm only 4,999 people shy of being a force of nature. So, I'm thinking about starting a citizens group, the "L.C.C. -- League of Concerned Citizens", online, if (when?) I can figure out how to use the web to do this, to draw attention to getting more and better supervision of drugging of the disabled and/or in nursing homes.
If you'd be interested in some grassroots action, email me: avalon3599 at windstream dot net, and we'll see what can be done.
A similar Bill of Rights absolutely needs to be put in place for the disabled (and perhaps for nursing home residents ~! With enforcement provisions and sanctions or penalties if violated ~!
Then we need CITIZEN ADVOCATES to make SURE these "laws" are adhered to and followed ~!!! While Texas does have a State "Ombudsman" for the disabled, all I've ever gotten there was kinds words of sympathy -- NO ACTION ~!
So, two things come to mind: a) if reading this strikes a cord with you, WRITE Sen. Uresti supporting SB 269 and b) since Rep. Ron Paul said in an interview with Dr. Mercola this month that one person appealing to politicians is ignored. To be a real "squeaky wheel", you need something like 5,000 people contacting their duly elected -- letters and phone calls, as well as appearances at public meetings, do have an effect.
Right now, I'm only 4,999 people shy of being a force of nature. So, I'm thinking about starting a citizens group, the "L.C.C. -- League of Concerned Citizens", online, if (when?) I can figure out how to use the web to do this, to draw attention to getting more and better supervision of drugging of the disabled and/or in nursing homes.
If you'd be interested in some grassroots action, email me: avalon3599 at windstream dot net, and we'll see what can be done.
