KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – The Justice Department has found that Missouri unnecessarily sent those with mental health needs to nursing homes when they could have stayed in their communities with expanded services.
The U.S. Justice Department announced on Tuesday, June 18, that it has found the State of Missouri violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The state was found to have unnecessarily institutionalized adults with mental health disabilities in nursing facilities.
The Department noted that the investigation also analyzed the roles of guardianships in such institutionalization. It found reasonable cause to believe the state fails to provide community-based services to adults with mental health disabilities in order to stay in their communities and improperly relies on guardianships.
“People with mental health disabilities should not have to be confined to a nursing facility because they cannot access the community-based services they need,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights …