CVTC Must Remain an Option for Families

Central Virginia Training Center and its 400 residents are under assault today from some of the very people who profess to want only the best for Virginians with severe physical and intellectual disabilities.

A week ago, the federal Department of Justice released a report on  Virginia’s training centers, home to more than 1,000 people. The result of a three-year probe, it was a scathing report that found the state in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held the disabled have a right to live in a community-based setting rather than an institutional one.

Activists on behalf of the disabled proclaimed the Justice Department report a victory in their fight against residential institutions.

More level-headed advocates for the disabled and parents who’ve placed their children in facilities such as CVTC blanched at the political fight they know is looming.

Many years ago, training centers were where society sent physically and intellectually disabled persons for one simple reason: to get them out of sight. Facilities such as CVTC were little more than warehouses for the most vulnerable of Virginia’s citizens.

Beginning in the 1970s, however, a new approach took hold. Residents who were able were readied for life in the larger society in group homes. Over the years, the process sped up considerably, and the patient count at CVTC plummetted from the thousands to little more than 400 today.

For many people, the transition to life “on the outside” has been a success. But there are many poor souls, physically and intellectually disabled beyond comprehension, who need a highly specialized residential setting such as CVTC.

Activists, working for a cause, often refuse to admit that fact. Parents and the medical staff who care for those people, day in and day out, live with that fact day after day.

Community group homes are terrific facilities, and the people who live in them and the residential staff who care for them become as close as any family. But they are not for everyone.

Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, is well aware of that fact. He’s one of the lead advocates for a bill now making its way through the General Assembly (House Bill 1790) that would not allow any resident of a facility like CVTC to be discharged to a community group home without the patient’s explicit consent or that of his legal guardian.

Representatives of various parents groups have lined up behind the bill. They’re worried — scared, really — about the fates of their children after they’re gone. They’re worried that group homes are unable to handle the intensive medical care many of the current residents require.

And they’re worried, ultimately, that they’re being ignored by government officials.

As Sen. Newman said, when speaking to the bill, “This comes down to the direct question that’s at stake here: Are parents going to be able to be involved in whether or not their kids get to stay in that facility or not.”

We strongly concur with Sen. Newman and applaud his efforts on behalf the disabled and their parents.

This struggle is about people, vulnerable people, and those who care for them. A residential facility such as CVTC must remain an option for the longterm care of the disabled in Virginia. It’s not about jobs and economic impact or ideology; it’s about what is best for the individual. And for many, a CVTC is what’s best for them.