For Immediate Release, December 13, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – Disability Rights New Jersey, the State’s designated Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities, applauds New Jersey’s Office of the State Comptroller’s (OSC) investigative report, which uncovered millions of dollars in Medicaid fraud by the owner and operators of one-star facility South Jersey Extended Care (SJEC), among New Jersey’s worst-rated nursing homes, based on the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid rating system.

The OSC report details how the owner and operators of SJEC engaged in Medicaid fraud by stealing millions of dollars for personal use at the expense of the residents of their nursing home. While the owners profited personally, residents of New Jersey’s worst-rated nursing home languished in an understaffed and under-resourced facility.

While Disability Rights New Jersey applauds this investigation and the action taken by the Comptroller to suspend SJEC, Sterling Manor, and the individuals involved, we know through our work that this investigation unfortunately highlights a problem not unfamiliar to New Jersey. Disability Rights New Jersey, along with other advocates, raised alarms about similar abuse at another New Jersey nursing home, Woodland Behavioral Health and Nursing Center (Woodland), which was, at the time, also ranked as one of New Jersey’s worst-rated nursing homes under the federal five-star system. Ultimately, Woodland was shut down in August 2022.

The OSC report highlights how nursing home residents, many of whom have disabilities, suffer tremendously. In October 2023, Disability Rights New Jersey released “Person First,” an investigative report about concerns related to the over-institutionalization of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in New Jersey. Many of these residents reside in poor performing nursing homes.

Disability Rights New Jersey calls upon the administration and legislature to take action based upon the OSC’s recommendations. First and foremost, New Jersey needs transparency in nursing home finances disclosures and ownership structures. In February 2023, Disability Rights New Jersey submitted testimony before the New Jersey Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee regarding Bill S2769, which was reintroduced as S1948 in the current legislative session. The bill proposes revising reporting requirements to require nursing home owners and operators to provide an organizational chart and consolidated financial statement which would result in greater financial transparency. Nursing homes like SJEC and Sterling Manor demonstrate the need for increased financial transparency in New Jersey nursing homes who collect millions in Medicaid and Medicare dollars.

Disability Rights New Jersey also calls upon the administration and legislature to revisit the April 2024 New Jersey Task Force on Long-Term Care Quality and Safety Report, a comprehensive report focused on reforming New Jersey’s long-term services and supports delivery system including nursing homes. This report, authored by the New Jersey Task Force on Long-Term Care Quality and Safety, of which Disability Rights New Jersey was an appointed member, makes recommendations that includes increased staffing, addressing Medicaid rates, and improving living conditions.

Older adults and people with disabilities deserve swift action in response to the OSC report to ensure their health, safety, and quality of life in nursing homes. These alarming findings related to nursing homes in New Jersey demonstrate the need to fully investigate other poor performing nursing homes in the State and demonstrate the need to enact meaningful change to improve the lives of New Jersey nursing home residents.

The OSC press release can be found here.

For Immediate Release: October 16, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – On October 11, 2024, a federal judge granted Disability Rights New Jersey’s motion to enforce its right under federal law to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect at Essex County Juvenile Detention Center. This order reinforces one of the most important functions of a Protection and Advocacy system – access to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect.

Disability Rights New Jersey is the state’s designated Protection and Advocacy agency under federal law. Congress created the Protection and Advocacy system to ensure that the human, civil, and legal rights of people with disabilities are protected. Disability Rights New Jersey investigates allegations of abuse and neglect against people with disabilities in institutional settings, like juvenile detention centers. The ability to access these settings is integral to Disability Rights New Jersey’s mandate to protect and advocate for people with disabilities.

Under this investigative access authority, Disability Rights New Jersey has a right to access the physical building where people with disabilities live and receive services, speak with individuals in the facility, and access certain records to conduct a thorough investigation.

As a result of this order, Disability Rights New Jersey will promptly investigate these serious allegations concerning Essex County Juvenile Detention Center to protect the rights of the youth at the facility. A link to the order can be found here.

If you have any allegations to report or want more information, please contact Disability Rights New Jersey’s intake team, toll-free in New Jersey at (800) 922-7233 or by emailing [email protected].

Related Articles:

October 18, 2024, NJ Spotlight News – Investigation of abuse, neglect at youth detention center can proceed

August 16, 2024: NJ Spotlight News: Abuse and neglect of young people with disabilities alleged at detention center

For Immediate Release: September 25, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – Disability Rights New Jersey, the state’s designated Protection and Advocacy system (P&A) for people with disabilities, launches “ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool,” a no-cost, self-assessment resource for students with disabilities, ages 13 to 21. ASPYIR empowers youth to take the lead in planning their futures by defining their interests, needs, and goals in preparation for adulthood.

ASPYIR stands for: Accessing Strategies to Prepare Youth for Independence and Responsibility. The planning tool is easy to use. Once students complete the self-assessment, ASPYIR generates a document identifying the student’s goals related to education, employment, and independent living that can be used to chart their pathway to accomplishing those goals.

By utilizing ASPYIR, students gain a resource essential to becoming an active participant at their Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, job interviews, and more. ASPYIR puts the power in their hands to be able to talk about the important aspects related to life as young adults.

Answering a need in the community, ASPYIR was developed by Disability Rights New Jersey Staff Attorney, Regina Ann Smith, based on a model created by Disability Rights Center of Kansas. “Individual student voice is crucial to the transition planning process, yet many students are rarely included at the table,” said Smith, a special education teacher turned attorney with the nonprofit’s Youth Practice Group.

Smith continued. “Working directly with students, we found they are often asked broad or abstract questions about the future and have seen first-hand how discouraged they were to process and share their goals with the rest of their team. Disability Rights New Jersey was inspired by the work of other P&As around the nation and wanted to equip New Jersey students with a tool to enhance their participation in planning for their future.”

The federal special education law known as The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act  (IDEA) ensures that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education (FAPE) that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. ASPYIR centers on these three crucial areas of development for youth.

In New Jersey, there are approximately 103,493 students between the ages of 13 and 21 who are entitled to special education services, including IEPs and 504 plans, in the 2023-2024 school year, based on data provided by the New Jersey Office of Special Education.

Students with disabilities are entitled to a transition plan the year they turn 14 and may begin creating their plan at age 13. The transition plan must be in place by age 16, when transition services are set to

begin. Through our experience, we often see students are unaware of transition planning services or their IEPs lack clarity around objectives for their future. The lack of planning leaves students unprepared and lacking necessary skills and supports to thrive in adulthood.

“Transition is frequently overlooked when preparing students for graduation and beyond. ASPYIR aims to put a spotlight on the issue,” says Jessica Lax, Disability Rights New Jersey’s Youth Practice Group Advocate. “Students with disabilities must be equipped with the essential tools needed to graduate and start young adult life. They must be given the opportunity to be in charge of crafting their own futures—understanding the importance of where their education can take them, and how they are able to best help themselves, while seeking support as needed. ASPYIR allows students to take the lead.”

Although ASPYIR was initially conceived to help students with disabilities advocate for themselves at their IEP meetings, the planning tool can benefit all students, regardless of their abilities, to identify their strengths and needs. ASPYIR can be an integral part of the transition planning process as students move into young adulthood and make choices about the direction of their lives.

Students can complete the ASPYIR Transition Planning Tool at: https://disabilityrightsnj.org/aspyir

Disability Rights New Jersey’s Youth Practice Group Advocate is available to assist students with ASPYIR, as well as discuss their results. Call our main intake line at (800) 922-7233, email [email protected], or complete the online intake form on our website at https://disabilityrightsnj.org/get-in-touch/get-help/intake-form/ to learn more.

For Immediate Release: August 8, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – Disability Rights New Jersey, the State’s designated Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court of New Jersey against Essex County Juvenile Detention Center, the Detention Center’s Warden, and Director, to enforce its right to access the facility and investigate allegations of abuse and neglect.

As New Jersey’s designated Protection and Advocacy system, federal law authorizes Disability Rights New Jersey to monitor and investigate settings where people with disabilities live and receive services, as they do in the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center. Unannounced, unaccompanied access to settings and access to records are central to the investigation authority that Congress imparted to Protection and Advocacy systems.

Gwen Orlowski, Executive Director of Disability Rights New Jersey said, “We seek to enforce our well-established right to investigate alleged abuse and neglect of youth with disabilities in exactly the type of setting that Congress contemplated when creating the Protection & Advocacy system.”

Disability Rights New Jersey’s Youth Justice Project received reports of alleged abuse, neglect, and systemic rights violations at the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center. The Youth Justice Project aims to decriminalize disability for youth in underserved communities by representing youth with disabilities impacted by the criminal justice system in Mercer and Essex counties.

“Youth with disabilities in institutional settings, like the residents of Essex County Juvenile Detention Center, are particularly vulnerable due to their segregation,” said Jill Hoegel, Director of Investigations and Monitoring at Disability Rights New Jersey. “It is imperative that our organization is able to use all tools available under federal law to swiftly investigate any allegations of abuse and neglect, including our right to access and photograph facilities and our right to conduct private interviews with individuals with disabilities.”

This lawsuit seeks to enforce Disability Rights New Jersey’s access authority to investigate these allegations of abuse and neglect to fulfill Disability Rights New Jersey’s mandate to protect and advocate for individuals with disabilities in New Jersey.

For Immediate Release: August 2, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – On July 10, 2024, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) found Trenton Public Schools to be non-compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and state regulations, following a complaint filed by Disability Rights New Jersey. NJDOE’s complaint investigation report concluded Trenton Public Schools denied students with disabilities their legally required free appropriate public education (FAPE) and now must provide compensatory educational services to those students. Trenton Public Schools is also required to complete a corrective action plan. 

The NJDOE’s complaint investigation report substantiates and confirms the issues Disability Rights New Jersey set forth in the formal complaint it filed with NJDOE on May 14, 2024. Prior to filing the complaint. Disability Rights New Jersey, in partnership with the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), raised the issue with Trenton Public Schools to resolve their failure to timely reactivate/reenroll students returning to the school district from out-of-home placements. Conversations continued for more than a year without a resolution. 

The May 14, 2024 complaint requested the NJDOE investigate Trenton Public Schools’ process for reactivating/reenrolling students returning to the school district from out-of-home placements. Disability Rights New Jersey’s complaint centered on students with disabilities, in particular those returning home from youth detention centers and mental health treatment facilities. The complaint alleged that all students returning from out-of-home placements faced obstacles and delays getting back in the classroom. Students with disabilities faced additional delays that lasted from weeks to months, sometimes while receiving no education at all. Trenton Public Schools systematically denied these returning students FAPE guaranteed by the IDEA. 

According to Disability Rights New Jersey Legal Director, Michael Brower, “One strategy to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline includes ensuring students with disabilities returning to the community from youth detention centers and residential treatment facilities seamlessly transition back to school. We thank the New Jersey Department of Education for its swift investigation, finding that school districts cannot shirk their legal duty to these students when they return from out-of-home placements.” 

Disability Rights New Jersey is grateful for the partnership and legal advocacy contributions of Ms. Brenda Shum, Esq., and the entire team at NCYL. “Missed learning time negatively impacts a student’s educational trajectory and long-term academic outcomes,” states Brenda Shum, Senior Directory Attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “For students returning to the District following an out-of-home placement, particularly those with disabilities, the failure to provide an appropriate educational placement and services may also violate the law. The District can and must do better to ensure that these students have immediate access to the education they are entitled to.”

Since 2020, Disability Rights New Jersey has assisted more than twenty students with disabilities returning to the Trenton Public School district from detention centers and residential treatment centers. Lisa Quartarolo, Managing Attorney of Disability Rights New Jersey’s Youth Practice Group, added, “We look forward to robust enforcement of the corrective action from the Department. Disability Rights New Jersey and our Youth Practice Group will vigilantly ensure that Trenton Public Schools and other New Jersey school districts remain compliant with their obligations to our clients.”

Youth with disabilities returning to Trenton Public Schools from any out-of-home placement who experience(d) barriers returning to school or a loss of educational services should contact Disability Rights New Jersey at (800) 922-7233, email us at [email protected], or complete the online intake form under Get Help at disabilityrightsnj.org.

A copy of NJDOE’s complaint investigation report can be viewed here.

May 10, 2024

Disability Rights NJ was honored to be a statutory member of the NJ Task Force on Long-Term Care Quality and Safety (Task Force) charged to make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature that will expand home and community-based long-term services and transform nursing homes through person-centered care models. 

For more than 15 months, the Task Force diligently worked through the many important issues and came to consensus in issuing its recommendations contained in the report that can be found here.

Disability Rights NJ is particularly proud of the radical change the report calls for, emphasizing policies which support home and community-based services first, as well as recognizing the dangers of large, hospital-like nursing homes with multi-person rooms. We also applaud the task forces recognition of the value of family-caregivers and direct support professionals, and the report’s recommendations for caregiver tax credits and professional recognition and compensation for workers.

The press release from the New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman can be found here.

An advocacy group for people with disabilities filed a lawsuit against New Jersey officials on Tuesday, alleging harrowing conditions and systematic violations of patient rights in four state-run psychiatric hospitals.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court by Disability Rights New Jersey, alleges that the “reality on the ground” at four hospitals — Ancora Psychiatric Hospital; Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital; Trenton Psychiatric Hospital; and Ann Klein Forensic Center — is “more akin to psychiatric incarceration” than to a setting where patients can get proper care.

…”Imagine living in an environment where even the most basic choices are taken away from you — when to wake up, when to go outside, when to have a drink of water,” said Bren Pramanik, managing attorney of the group’s Institutional Rights team. “And, in place of psychiatric treatment, you face both boredom and violence on a daily basis.”

For Immediate Release: February 20, 2024

TRENTON, NJ – Disability Rights New Jersey, the State’s designated Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court of New Jersey against the Commissioners of the New Jersey Department of Health and Department of Human Services, together with their agencies and the State. This lawsuit addresses the significant harm faced by individuals confined to New Jersey’s State psychiatric hospitals who are subjected to abusive and neglectful conditions, and inappropriately prolonged confinement due to lack of mental health services in the community. These practices violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

New Jersey-based litigation boutique Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins, P.C. represents Disability Rights New Jersey as co-counsel.

ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Approximately 1,150 people are confined to New Jersey’s State psychiatric hospitals: Ancora Psychiatric Hospital, Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, and Ann Klein Forensic Center. Disability Rights New Jersey’s investigations reveal that people confined to the hospitals are subject to widespread abuse and violent conditions. Individuals have been sexually, physically, and emotionally assaulted, sometimes resulting in permanent injuries or death. Countless patients have told Disability Rights New Jersey, “I don’t feel safe here.”

“The conditions in our state psychiatric hospitals would not be tolerated in any other healthcare setting. Nobody expects to be assaulted when they go to the emergency room with a broken leg, and the same should be true for New Jerseyans involuntarily committed to receive inpatient mental health care. The Commissioners have allowed these conditions to persist for too long, despite reports, investigations, and even lawsuits filed by patients over the past several years,” says Jill Hoegel, Disability Rights New Jersey’s Director of Investigations and Monitoring.

UNLAWFUL SEGREGATION

In addition to living in an atmosphere of violence, many patients who no longer meet the standards for involuntary commitment cannot leave for months, even years, while they wait for appropriate community mental health services and supports. The State holds these people against their will on a status called Conditional Extension Pending Placement, or CEPP.

Today, people on CEPP status make up over 20% of the state psychiatric hospital population. CEPP status was created for patients who no longer meet the involuntary commitment standard, are ready for discharge, but who need services to return to their community. People languish in the hospitals because the Commissioners have not fulfilled their duty under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead to create adequate supports and services in the community.

“Imagine living in an environment where even the most basic choices are taken away from you—when to wake up, when to go outside, when to have a drink of water—and, in place of psychiatric treatment, you face both boredom and violence on a daily basis. This is the reality for the patients in the state’s four psychiatric hospitals, over 20% of whom could leave today if the State developed capacity to serve them in the community,” says Bren Pramanik, Managing Attorney of Disability Rights New Jersey’s Institutional Rights team.

Given these unlawful practices, Disability Rights New Jersey filed suit to protect the rights of these 1,150 people. According to Disability Rights New Jersey Executive Director Gwen Orlowski, “People with disabilities of all kinds, including mental health disabilities, have the right to live in and receive services in the community. The State of New Jersey is failing to meet its legal obligation to provide community-based options for people with mental health disabilities, resulting in the unjust and unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in large, dangerous, and isolating psychiatric hospitals.”