New Jersey must stop the abuse, neglect and deaths in group homes

USA Today Network New Jersey Editorial Board
NorthJersey.com

..... Michael Lombardi was 39 when he died in a New Jersey group home for adults in June 2022. The Toms River facility where Michael lived was licensed and regulated by the state of New Jersey.
..... In the hours before he died, Michael tired 14 times to dial 911 to alert authorities that he was in trouble. How and why did a man with cerebral palsy who was living in a group home try to reach outside help when caregivers were supposed to be just steps away?
..... Michael's grieving mother pressed state officials for more than a year before she was able to get New Jersey to open an investigation into his death. And it took another year and seven months for officials to issue a report that failed to explain Michael's death.
..... "I remember going, 'in this vast city of Trenton, there;s nobody who does investigations for this?' " said Michael's mother Nancy Lombardi. "I mean, seriously these are our children, who are helpless."
..... Katie Moronski died a similar group home in Newton in 2024 - just two days into her residency there.
..... After spending seven years at a Massachusetts boarding school, Katie, who had autism. was looking forward to spending more time with family in New Jersey. That never happened. The autopsy found a toxic amount of prescription drugs in her system - an overdose of her regular regimen that the group home was supposed to administer. A fourth drug in her system was administered when Katie was taken to an emergency room. She died at age 21.
..... "It was going to be the year of yes," said Katie's mother, Lynne Moronski. "she was going to take advantage of every opportunity that was offered to her."

Hidden at Home uncovers danger in New Jersey group homes

..... Michael Lombardi's death was ruled by state investigators to be natural. Katie Moronski's death was determined to be accidental.
..... Their stores are just two told in Hidden at Home, a yearlong investigation conducted by NorthJersey.com . Investigative reporters Ashley Balcerzak and Jean Rimbach found that New Jersey's group homes operate largely with scant oversight from the state officials.
..... In the course of their work, Balcerzak and Rimback identified nearly 50 cases since 2013 in which vulnerable group home residents died and left alarming questions about their care and supervision. Lombardi lived in a home operated by community Options. Moronski's facility was operated by Broadstep and owned by RHA Health Services. Neither answered reporters' questions about the deaths.
..... As may as 9,848 people with developmental disabilities live in state-licensed settings - mostly in more than 2,000 group homes and supervised apartments scattered across New Jersey neighborhoods. Routinely, we found, families express concerns about the care their loved ones receive, including access to food, water and medications. they complain about abuse and injuries. They worry about dangerous and inhospitality living conditions.
..... More than 130 companies operate these facilities, which together make up a $1.5 billion-a-year industry across New Jersey regulated by the state Department of Human Services. As Bakcerzak and Rimbach reported, Human Services oversees the safety of the residents of New Jersey group homes - which are responsible for the feeding, bathing and medical care of a population who may not be able to advocate for themselves.
..... Since 2019, the average number of deaths per year in New Jersey group homes has been 170. Of those deaths, an average of 120 are unexpected - meaning, according to Human Services, that those who died were not in hospice or otherwise in palliative or comfort care, records request found.
..... Balcerzak and Rimbach set out to discover which New Jersey group homes had the most deaths, as well as how many deaths had concerning causes and how many young people living in group homes had died unexpectedly. they submitted a public records request to Human Services to obtain that data. The request was denied.
..... "If there are preventable deaths, we want to make sure that we're drawing attention to those," Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman later said in an interview with NorthJersey.com . "there's no purpose in hiding information about deaths."

Where are state regulators?

..... Resident die along and seemingly unsupervised - too often in seemingly avoidable ways.
.... Record-keeping about medication is lax and disorganized, sometimes leading to dispensing errors that can cause crisis or even death.
..... Caregivers are underpaid in an industry plagued by staff churn.
..... New Jersey's system for housing adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be dangerous - and, too often, deadly.
..... Hidden at Home brought that stark reality - lived by hundreds of New Jersey families who worry daily about the lives and safety of their loved ones living in group homes - into high relief.
..... These families have felt powerless about the care their loved ones receive; they've felt bullied by facility operators and staff; and they've felt dismissed by advocates, government regulators and providers alike.
..... In the past five years, calls for help to Paul Aronsohn, New Jersey's ombudsman for individual with intellectual or development disabilities and their families, have increased threefold.
.... "It's on a daily basis that we're working with individuals and families on abuse and neglect situations," said Aronsohn."They're crying to us. they're at there wit's end. they don't trust the system. They're constantly being re-traumatized by these experiences."
..... Ultimately, the state officials who regulate a largely self-governing industry are simply not present enough.
..... As Balcerzak and Rimbach reported, Human Services rarely sues its regulatory powers to address conditions and concerns in New Jersey group homes. their investigation found that:
* Companies operating group homes do not always meet residents' basic needs - including at times, food, water, medicine, supervision or specialized care - despite receiving annual payments that can top $500,000 per patient.
* State inspectors routinely find foul and unsanitary conditions in group homes, including mildew, bedbugs and broken furniture.
* In the past 10 years, state regulators have ordered only a handful of providers to close facilities or stop accepting new patients. One company was shut down.
* Providers are allow to expand - even as problems at their facilities persist. Even under regulatory scrutiny, New Jersey officials allowed companies to triple its capacity while another rebuffed a proposed outside monitor to check on care standards.

* State officials investigate only 2% of roughly 14,000 annual complaints about group homes, typically only the worst are handled by the providers themselves.
* Human Services, as Balcerzak and Ribach reported, has the power to deny, revoke or suspend group home licenses, or halt new admission to facilities. But those regulatory levers - all of which could affect providers' bottom lines - are rarely pulled.
..... Why doesn't Human Services act with more swiftness and greater force?
..... It doesn't have the adequate tools, officials contend.
..... The Department of Human Services and some advocates point to a seven-bill legislative package now under consideration in Trenton. One bill, if passed, would be the first to require providers to pay fines - through providers have already exercised enough lobbying muscle to lower the amounts.
..... Still, as we revealed in Hidden at Home, the proposed package of laws will not address a critical piece of what families, advocates and victims contend is the core problem with New Jersey's group-home system: how investigation into abuse, neglect and exploitation are handled.
..... "Most often, these allegations are investigated ... within the agency themselves and by DHS," said Yana Mermel, whose daughter suffered abuse and neglect in a group home. "and essentially, what ends up happening is a situation where it's a fox guarding the henhouse."

Human Services must do more, and Legislate must act

..... Given the breadth of our findings in Hidden at Home, a new conversation needs to start in Trenton.
..... That conversation must be framed around two guiding questions:
..... Why aren't Human Services regulators doing more to oversee New Jersey's group homes?
..... Why aren't legislators working to provide those regulators with sufficient tools?
..... The answer to both questions should be: We must.
..... Human Service must step up to the plate and do its job, using the tools already a tits disposal, to better regulate New Jersey's group homes for the disabled.
..... The Legislature, too, must act.
..... We applaud the sentiment form advocates for people with disabilities: New Jersey must not be afraid to impose stiff fines. Human Services must not be beholden to provides - so much so that considerations of closure and termination of patient admissions ought to be the norm.

Are you paying attention?

..... In recent weeks, we met with candidates seeking their respective parties' nominations for governor. We asked each candidate about Hidden at Home and its findings, and, to a person, each said Human Services and the Legislature must act with greater swiftness and dexterity to address the broad concerns.
..... We hope their colleagues in the Legislature in Trenton are paying attention.
..... We hope you,our readers who vote, are paying attention.
..... all of us in the garden state face a grave crisis: Our most vulnerable family members and neighbors are allowed to exist in conditions that come with far too much risk for peril.
..... How can we tolerate that?

Share your stories

..... Are you the parent or guardian of someone who recently lives or currently lives in a New Jersey group home? Are you a group home resident? do you work at a provider agency that cares for adults with disabilities?
..... We'd like to her from you. To share your experience, please contact us at HiddenAtHome@northjersey.com.

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