Protective Services for Adults with Mental Retardation

The purpose of this study was to assist Connecticut's Office of Protection and Advocacy (OPA) to better understand the impact of investigations carried out or monitored by its Abuse Investigation Division (AID). The background to this study was that the Connecticut statute that gives the OPA the responsibility to investigate abuse and neglect of adults with mental retardation was an add-on to the federally manadated functions of State Offices of Protection and Advocacy. The federally prescribed functions related primarily to helping individuals with disabilities to be aware of their legal rights and to assist them in their efforts to assert their rights to full citizenship and self-determination. In contrast, a substantiated allegation of abuse or neglect triggered a completely different kind of state action: the creation of an Immediate Protective Service Plan (IPSP) and/or a Protective Service Plan (PSP).

This study was designed to help the agency's leadership better understand how the development of IPSPs and PSPs typically play out in the aftermath of investigations either conducted by their staff ("OPA Investigate" cases) or by other agencies (monitored cases). More specifically, the study looked at such issues as the timelines of the office's responses to monitored investigations, the timeliness and substance of other agencies' responses to OPA/AID requests for IPSPs and PSPs, and the contents of IPSPs and PSPs.

Publications

Gabriela Freyre-Calish, M.S.W.
University of Connecticut
Center for Developmental Disabilities
263 Farmington Ave.
Farmington, CT 06030

860.679.1563

freyre@nso2.uchc.edu

Contact

Dale B. Fink, Ph.D.
University of Connecticut
Center for Developmental Disabilities
263 Farmington Ave.
Farmington, CT 06030

Phone: 860-679-1561

Email: dfink@uchc.edu