COFAR blog

Ken Moran, a former assistant area director with the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), has been an advocate for Steven Voisine and for Steven’s mother Deborah for several years.

Now living in Florida, Moran still keeps in touch with them, and wants to know why Steven today can’t get the basic services he needs from the Department.

Steven, 37, once had an ideal living arrangement in an apartment with roommates in Lowell. But it all fell apart in 2020, after a DDS-funded corporate services provider allowed a known drug user and dealer to live in the residence.

The drug dealer, whose name was Nick, died of a drug overdose that year. But Ken, and Steven’s mother Deborah, said the provider, the Cooperative for Human Services (CHS), falsely blamed Steven for Nick’s problems; and Steven was forced to move out. Meanwhile, they said, Nick had been stealing Steven’s antipsychotic medications.

No longer getting services

Having lost what had initially been an ideal residential arrangement, Steven went on to live in an array of residential settings, Deborah and Ken said. He experienced temporary homelessness and received minimal case management.

Even though he is 37 years old, he moved into his current apartment in an elderly housing building in Gardner. Ken noted that there is no staff support for him during the day.

Although Steven is under the care of the DDS North Central Area Office in Fitchburg, “They (the area office) don’t know what to do with him or with their other clients,” Deborah maintains. “They just tell us they are overbooked.”

Ken said DDS has most recently offered to find a MassHealth-funded day habilitation program for Steven.  But that’s not what he wants or needs.

“He needs someone to actually listen to him,” Ken said. “He needs an apartment with shared responsibilities. He needs someone to help him get his place in order.”

Steve and Deborah Voisine and their pets, Tom (left) and Oscar (right)

Ken noted that Steven “gets overwhelmed,” is obsessed with electronics, but has no concept of money. He is also unable to keep his apartment clean, and has no social activities or services.

Ken, who is also a former DDS group home licensure and certification inspector, recently retired as chief operating officer of Opportunity Works, a DDS day program provider.

Deborah has track record of accuracy

Ken maintained that Deborah has fought for years for adequate care and services for her son. “Debbie has been pooh-poohed by DDS for years,” he said. “But there is always truth in what she is saying.”

He maintained that Deborah has always tried to alert the Department and providers to potential problems with Steven’s care. One threat she noted was the admission of Nick to Steven’s shared living apartment.

Deborah said Steven had been happiest when living in the Lowell residence with two other DDS clients. Overnight staff stayed on the third floor of the building. There were 20 hours of staffing during the week. But when Nick was admitted, he brought in pot parties, drug addicts, and prostitutes, Deborah said. Ken said Nick had a history of drug abuse and arrests. His mother would bring pot to him.

Steven and Deborah believed Nick was stealing Steven’s medications to sell to drug dealers, so Deborah bought a lockbox for Steven to keep the medications in. They contended DDS knew Nick was a drug user, but still placed him in the apartment.

False accusation against Steven

One day in the fall of 2020, Ken, who had previously retired from DDS, drove Steven to Deborah’s house in Leominster for a weekend visit.

Steven brought his bag of clothes with him in a duffel bag. That Sunday, he called the manager of the shared apartment to ask if he could stay longer, and asked whether the staff could bring his medications to him.

Deborah said that when the manager went into Steven’s room to retrieve his lockbox, she found that the lockbox was gone.  The manager called Steven to ask where it was, and he replied that he had left it on his dresser.

Deborah said the staff did a search of the entire building including the garbage and cellar. The lockbox was never found. But the staff nevertheless accused Steven of having taken the lockbox in order to place the blame on Nick for having taken his medications.

Ken and Deborah maintained that accusation against Steven wasn’t true. Steven subsequently had no antipsychotic medications for 10 days, and his psychiatrist wouldn’t prescribe any more.

Nick died of a drug overdose a few months later, in December 2020. Steven’s pill bottles found in Nick’s room when he died, Deborah said.

As noted, Steven was forced to move out of the residence. In our view, this amounted to an eviction by the provider. We think DDS should have informed Deborah of her right to challenge it.

What Steven needs

Ken and Deborah maintain that it wouldn’t be difficult or expensive to serve Steven properly. DDS would need to gain an understanding of his needs. As Ken explained, Steven needs the following services:

• Help managing money
• Help in keeping his apartment clean
• Assistance with hygiene
• Help in making friends
• Help in dealing with depression and weight gain
• Help in dealing with anxiety
• Help with medical and dental care

“He had this kind of support when he lived in Lowell,” Ken said. “He needs good roommates and some staff support. The right living situation could work for him.”

‘The forgotten children’

Deborah said there are many other DDS clients under the care of the North Central Area Office in Fitchburg, who are in the same situation as Steven. “We call them the forgotten children,” she said. She said she was told the service coordinators in the area are overwhelmed. Some have as many as 70 clients.

Both the director of the Area Office and the assistant director have left the office, and have not been replaced, she said. There is currently an acting director.

Deborah said she recently met with DDS Central West Regional Director Anthony Keane, who maintained that the only options for Steven are living by himself or in a group home. Neither option are suitable for Steven, Deborah said.

For the past several years, DDS has become increasingly unable to meet the needs of its clients. Long wait times for services are now the norm.

As we have said before, DDS has been contending with a shortage of staffing and resources, but has not attempted to make use of its existing assets such as the two remaining developmental centers or its state-run group home system. The Department routinely rejects requests for placements in its state-run residential facilities.

When basic services are unavailable for longtime DDS clients like Steven, and when terms like ‘forgotten children’ are used to describe them, it should be a wake-up call to the administration. Unfortunately, this administration appears content to muddle through, and is apparently not listening to many of its clients or aware of what their needs really are.