COFAR blog

Dear Members and Friends of COFAR,

Thank you for your dedication to the most vulnerable among us with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As we approach the holidays, we want to share our latest work and ask for your ongoing support.

We are continuing to advocate for families and guardians of clients in the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) system, as well as those caught up in the probate court system. We talk to people every day who feel overwhelmed by their treatment by DDS and the courts.

Whether it is attending court hearings as advocates on behalf of family members and guardians or enlisting the help of pro bono attorneys to assist them, we are committed to ensuring their voices are heard.

We are also deepening our outreach to legislators in opposition to bills that would replace guardianship with Supported Decision-Making (SDM), possibly marginalizing family members in the decisions most impacting their loved ones.

And we are working to enlist the aid of legislators and others in our effort to protect our state’s two remaining congregate care facilities—the Wrentham Developmental Center and the Hogan Regional Center. As you know, these centers are under siege by the administration and other proponents of privatized care who fail to recognize that the facilities provide a critical backstop for the care of persons around the state with the most profound levels of intellectual disability and the most serious medical issues.

We are further committed to the preservation and adequate funding of the state’s network of DDS-run group homes as an additional option for families and guardians seeking residential placements for their loved ones. After all, it is imperative that individuals and their families can choose the placements that best align with their needs.

Via our blog site, we provide unparalleled scrutiny of those and other issues, such as excessive compensation paid to provider executives and underpayment of direct-care staff.

Please consider a donation of whatever amount you can afford to help us continue advocating for you. You can contribute by going to our website at www.cofar.org and by clicking on the donate link. Or, you can send a check to our address (12 North Street, Leominster, MA 01453).

Thank you, and happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Frain, Esq.
President