AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine has been in violation of federal law for limiting services to a man with several disabilities and medical conditions, the U.S. Justice Department determined.
A letter from the Justice Department last week ordered the state to grant the man services he is eligible for and to protect the civil rights of residents with disabilities who need support services or else face legal action in court, the Bangor Daily News reported Wednesday.
The Justice Department began investigating the case after receiving a complaint from a parent on behalf of an adult son who needs help with “all daily life activities,” according to the letter. The man has not been identified.
Currently, Maine requires individuals in need of support services to live in group homes, instead of allowing them to live at home with family members and have support staff come to them.
The federal government is now asking in the letter to Maine’s attorney general’s office that the state make it possible for those individuals to receive the services they require at home.
Disability advocates believe the letter can have sweeping implications for where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who require around-the-clock care can live.
“I think it will just give people a much broader array of options and choices of where to live,” said Staci Converse, an attorney with Disability Rights Maine.
A spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said it is reviewing the Justice Department’s letter “in close consultation with the attorney general’s office to determine next steps” and that its goal is “always to ensure that adults with developmental disabilities and autism receive the necessary services that best meet their needs.”
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