Group monitoring services for Mainers with disabilities down to 5 of 15 members

6 years ago

An independent board charged with overseeing the state’s services for adults with intellectual disabilities has just five of the 15 members it’s supposed to have under state law. And Gov. Paul LePage’s administration hasn’t been sharing much of the data to which the board is entitled under the law.

The volunteer Maine Developmental Services Oversight and Advisory Board is tasked with independent oversight of the state’s developmental services system, which provides services to about 6,000 adults with intellectual disabilities and autism. Those adults, under state and federal laws, are generally entitled to state-funded services that allow them to remain in their communities.

But a lack of members and a lack of information about the developmental services system are complicating the board’s ability to oversee it.

To read the rest of “Group monitoring services for Mainers with disabilities down to 5 of 15 members,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Matthew Stone, please follow this link to the BDN online.