TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie should halt any plans to close the Vineland Developmental Center in Cumberland County until a new legislative panel has studied the impact on its disabled residents, the chairwoman of the Assembly Human Services Committee announced today. In a letter to Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez who oversees state institutions, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen)...
Clik here to view.
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), pictured in an October photo, today asked the Christie administration to stop the closure of the Vineland Developmental Center.TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie should halt any plans to close the Vineland Developmental Center in Cumberland County until a new legislative panel has studied the impact on its disabled residents, the chairwoman of the Assembly Human Services Committee announced today.
In a letter to Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez who oversees state institutions, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) questioned the administration's recent transfer of 59 Vineland residents. Two-thirds of them were sent to one of the six other institutions serving people with developmental disabilities while the remaining residents moved into community housing.
"You testified before the Assembly Budget Committee last month that the department had selected Vineland Developmental Center for closure in part due to the long list clients at the facility on the list for community placement,'' according to Huttle's letter. "Why then have only 37 percent of the clients transferred been placed in the community?"
Velez's spokeswoman Pam Ronan said because the proposed closure would not occur until 2013, there is no need to stop "closure groundwork.''
"While the Legislature is reviewing and finalizing the budget, the Division of Developmental Disabilities and the Vineland Developmental Center are proceeding with closure groundwork. Currently, that includes holding meetings with staff members and holding small-group meetings with family members,'' Ronan said.
Families with relatives living in Vineland and state employees have urged the state to rethink the proposal because it would hurt the county's already-ailing economy and would disrupt the lives of disabled women who have long called the facility home.
The state closed half of the center last year.
Huttle wrote that she was chairing a new panel examining the future of the five psychiatric hospitals and the seven developmental centers, and that no facility should be closed until they have had a chance to conduct a "holistic" review.
“As the new co-chair of this panel, I am requesting today that the administration place a moratorium on the closure of the Vineland Developmental Center until the panel has had an opportunity to make recommendations on the issue. At the very least, the administration should hold off on this decision until the FY 2012 budget is passed by the legislature since we have not approved this closure yet,” Huttle said in a prepared statement.
“No one can deny our system needs improving, but as we move to do so, we need to know exactly where we stand in caring for people with disabilities and mental health problems. That’s the goal of this panel,” Huttle added.
