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The following article appeared in the Miami Herald DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND TINA CUMMINGS Amanda Ray was difficult to understand as she shouted into a megaphone in the courtyard of the Department of Children & Families' office building in Miami. But her message was clear. ''Never Back Down!'' she yelled, clutching a sign as scores of other disabled people chanted with her. "Save our House!'' Ray, 18, was born with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that stunted her development and impaired her ability to speak. She lives in a group home operated by her mother, who fears state budget cuts could threaten the quality of life for people who live in homes like Ray's. The two participated in one of several simultaneous demonstrations held throughout the state to protest the budget reductions, which are expected to be between $28 million and $50 million. ''It's frightening, because we don't know what cuts will come through, and where we will take them from our budget,'' said Patricia Ray, Amanda's mother, who operates three group homes for disabled people in Miami-Dade. "Do you tell [residents] that they can't go to the movies today, or that you just had to get rid of their favorite staff member?'' In Tallahassee, more than 100 people gathered to protest the cuts at the agency headquarters as DCF Secretary Jerry Regier met with reporters to defend the new pay rates for agencies that provide residential care to about 6,100 Floridians and day training to about 11,100. ''We are trying to ensure that no services are reduced,'' Regier told the protesters, whose chants competed with his 11 a.m. news conference. "Gov. Bush is extremely committed to programs for the developmentally disabled.'' CONSULTANT'S STUDY The program's money problems stem from a consultant's study that resulted in a radically new billing structure designed to make payments "fair and equitable.'' Providers say the new rate structure, combined with soaring insurance costs, will force them to cut back on services. DCF counters that over the past three years it has increased payments to service providers by $254 million. DCF officials acknowledge, however, the new pay rates may lead some agencies to drop programs. 'We are going to do whatever is necessary to ensure that clients' services continue and that clients don't have to move,'' Regier said. "Just moving itself is very traumatic for them.'' Escalating costs in the disability program, Regier said, have made it impossible to offer services to 12,550 disabled Floridians on a waiting list for community care. ''What really upsets me is that even while we are trying to come to an agreement, 12,500 people are not getting any services -- and that is disconcerting,'' Regier said. Gwen Reed listened intently as Regier addressed the crowd in Tallahassee. Reed's 23-year-old son, Michael, is a high school graduate but was born with cerebral palsy and uses a power wheelchair. Reed worries that funding cuts could force Michael to move back home, and lose his independence. ''He's been told to dream that dream, that it's possible, that you can have it, that the wheelchair was not going to bind him, that his disability was not going to tie him down,'' Reed said. "But now he's under threat of having that very dream taken away from him.'' In Miami, as disabled people, and their advocates chanted, DCF local spokesman Peter D. Coats listened. NO FAMILY ''I've got 16 folks who don't have any family,'' said Peggy Wall, associate executive director of Faye Clark's New Horizons, which cares for 34 people in group homes. "We are their family. We plan the birthday parties, the Christmases, the Hanukkahs, the funerals, the sick days.'' Wall said the program will consider laying off staff, and reducing services for group home residents, such as recreational activities. ''That may not sound like much to many people,'' Wall said, "but to our guys, it's a big deal.'' |