Virginia Congressmen Ask McAuliffe to Delay Closing Training Centers

Eight Virginia congressmen are pushing to defer action on the state’s plans to close and sell most of its residential centers for people with disabilities, including the Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax.

A letter sent to Gov. Terry McAuliffe by the congressional delegation last week said the timeline for closing four of the Commonwealth’s five training centers was “arbitrarily established.”

The state plans to close all but one of the state’s residential centers for the disabled by 2020 as part of a federal push to move residents into smaller community-based homes rather than state institutions, the News Advance reports. The Southside Training Center closed June 30, 2014 and the next to close is the Northern Virginia Training Center.

“[T]he parents and professionals overseeing this transition have come to learn more about the tremendous challenges of not only providing commensurate medical care in a community-based setting but also in addressing the practical and logistical hurdles for delivering that care,” read the letter signed by eight of 11 Virginia congressmen last Friday.

On July 1, the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services announced it needed more time to develop community resources in Northern Virginia and would push the Northern Virginia site’s closing date from March 2015 to March 2016. That way, residents could reasonably expect to be fully integrated into their communities with sufficient services and supports to help them live as independently as possible.

The same day, the department declared the Northern Virginia site to be a surplus property, allowing it to be put up for sale. By state law, the sale’s proceeds would enter a trust fund used to develop new community housing and other support services for former residents.

“While these families are hopeful that the working group will identify additional options for providing community-based care, they remain anxious that Virginia officials appear to be moving forward with the scheduled closure of the remaining training centers…,” the letter to the governor reads. “In keeping with the spirit of the [work group legislation], we respectfully request that you consider deferring any actions with respect to the closure of the training centers or the proposal of the sale of any properties…”

The letter was signed by three democrats and five Republicans who praised the governor and General Assembly for passing Sen. Steve Newman’s bill (S.B. 627) which created the work group and requires the state to provide a written certification that residents moved from training centers will be promised equal quality of care.