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Negligence in group home in NY

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petergriffon

Junior Member
My brother (26 yrs old) has down syndrome and was getting ready to go and live in a group home. My mother took him there for dinners several nights a week for several weeks, and 5 overnight visits. He was at the point where he was 1 week away from moving in permanently. My mother got a call one Saturday morning and was told there was an incident overnight with my brother. Apparently the doorknob to his room was removed, his window was broken, and he was sitting in broken glass. He was not injured, only a few scrapes from the glass. There were 2 workers working that night and the house manager came in at 11PM. They all have different stories, which tells me that some one, or all of them are lying.

I convinced my mother to call the police, who came right way and spent several hours at the house interviewing people. The story from one of the workers is....he went into my brothers room to tend to him and had the keys to the doors with him. He put the keys down while he was tending to my brother, then left the room because another resident was causing a commotion and needed assistance. Once he left my brother shut and locked the door with the keys in the room. He then got help from the other worker; one tried to get into the door by removing the doorknob, and he went outside and tried to get into the window and wound up breaking it.

There are several things wrong with this story. 1 - there is no reason he would have the keys on him if the door wasn't already locked, all of the doors are unlocked. 2 - the other resident that was causing a commotion was in the room next to their office, which is where the other worker was, so why didn't he hear it and go help. 3 - my brother is on the extreme low end of the spectrum, he does not speak and needs constant care. There is no way he would have shut the door on his own and even if he did, there is no way he could have locked it. 4 - he didn't tell anyone about the broken window and it was not discovered until the morning when the morning shift workers came in.

The police are still looking into it, but being there is no proof of what happened, they don't think they can prove anything criminal was done. There is nothing stopping the workers from lying; my brother cannot tell us what happened and there are no cameras in the house for evidence. This is also being investigated by a justice department run by new york state, but they are not telling us anything and we don't expect to ever hear the truth from anyone associated with their organization.

My question is, is there anything legally my mother can do being there is no proof of what exactly happened. From what the police officer told us, it is illegal to lock someone, especially someone like my brother, in their room against their will; but again, there is no proof that that happened.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
My brother (26 yrs old) has down syndrome and was getting ready to go and live in a group home. My mother took him there for dinners several nights a week for several weeks, and 5 overnight visits. He was at the point where he was 1 week away from moving in permanently. My mother got a call one Saturday morning and was told there was an incident overnight with my brother. Apparently the doorknob to his room was removed, his window was broken, and he was sitting in broken glass. He was not injured, only a few scrapes from the glass. There were 2 workers working that night and the house manager came in at 11PM. They all have different stories, which tells me that some one, or all of them are lying.

I convinced my mother to call the police, who came right way and spent several hours at the house interviewing people. The story from one of the workers is....he went into my brothers room to tend to him and had the keys to the doors with him. He put the keys down while he was tending to my brother, then left the room because another resident was causing a commotion and needed assistance. Once he left my brother shut and locked the door with the keys in the room. He then got help from the other worker; one tried to get into the door by removing the doorknob, and he went outside and tried to get into the window and wound up breaking it.

There are several things wrong with this story. 1 - there is no reason he would have the keys on him if the door wasn't already locked, all of the doors are unlocked. 2 - the other resident that was causing a commotion was in the room next to their office, which is where the other worker was, so why didn't he hear it and go help. 3 - my brother is on the extreme low end of the spectrum, he does not speak and needs constant care. There is no way he would have shut the door on his own and even if he did, there is no way he could have locked it. 4 - he didn't tell anyone about the broken window and it was not discovered until the morning when the morning shift workers came in.

The police are still looking into it, but being there is no proof of what happened, they don't think they can prove anything criminal was done. There is nothing stopping the workers from lying; my brother cannot tell us what happened and there are no cameras in the house for evidence. This is also being investigated by a justice department run by new york state, but they are not telling us anything and we don't expect to ever hear the truth from anyone associated with their organization.

My question is, is there anything legally my mother can do being there is no proof of what exactly happened. From what the police officer told us, it is illegal to lock someone, especially someone like my brother, in their room against their will; but again, there is no proof that that happened.

Honestly the best thing that your mother can do is advocate for your brother to be moved to another facility. If your family is paying for his care then she does not need to advocate at all, she just needs to move him. If the government is paying for his care then she needs to advocate for him.
 

petergriffon

Junior Member
He did not move into this home, everything was cancelled after this happened. His medicare benefits will be paying for his care wherever he goes.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
He did not move into this home, everything was cancelled after this happened. His medicare benefits will be paying for his care wherever he goes.
That's great news. :) God bless y'all.

I think all your Mother can do right now is await the outcome of the police investigation. Wait for more answers here: my opinion is worth $0.02.
 

quincy

Senior Member
He did not move into this home, everything was cancelled after this happened. His medicare benefits will be paying for his care wherever he goes.
What do you want to happen, petergriffon? I do not see that there was any injury and I do not see that any crime was committed.

There were two staff members, a late night house manager and your brother at the group home that Friday night, each of whom might know how the glass was broken and how the doors were locked. You heard from three of those individuals. Your brother, apparently, has not spoken of the incident (or incidents).

Based on what you have related, I do not see what the police can do. I do not see what your mother can do. I do not see what you can do (except find your brother another place to live). A justice department investigation probably has less to do with the care in the home, by the way, and probably more to do with the owners of the home or homes and federal money.


edit to add: I think your opinion is worth FAR more than that, Silverplum.
 

petergriffon

Junior Member
Not sure what I'd like to happen, but the problem is that we don't know what happened. The bottom line is, they locked my brother in his room, he was sitting in broken glass for several hours and someone needs to take responsibility for it. If my brother was locked in his room, which he was, then a crime was committed and we would like some justice for that.
 

quincy

Senior Member
... but the problem is that we don't know what happened ...
To repeat what you already know and have acknowledged above, the problem is that you don't know what happened.

No provable crime has been committed. Those who have spoken indicate there has been no crime. The one who has not spoken may be able to state otherwise, but hasn't.

I suggest you find for your brother another group home in which to reside and be happy you discovered before your brother became a resident that this particular group home was not going to be a good place for him.

Good luck.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
So at any other possible placement first thing is to find out if client bedroom doors have locking door knobs or just passage sets? ( passage sets cannot be locked ) now you know part of his risk is that he should not have locking bedroom doors and this should be in incorporated into future risk assessments and ISPs (individual service plans) At this point your states department of human services offices will be handling the investigation so your local PD likely has done all they can ( btw in future placements unless he has behaviors regarding clothing and other items that may be kept in a closet then perhaps his bedroom closet should not have a lockable door until proven otherwise) also last find out if your state required shatterproof glass in that homes windows when its license was approved.
 

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