New Jersey lawsuit re Waiting List

DRNJ Sues State Over Division of Developmental Disabilities Residential Waiting List

Disability Rights New Jersey and Lowenstien Sandler, a prominent New Jersey law firm, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court against the Department of Human Services, saying 8,000 people with developmental disabilities have had their rights violated because they have been waiting too long -- some for a decade -- to move into Division-sponsored community housing.

The lawsuit alleges the state is failing to meet its legal responsibility to provide housing for people who want or need to live outside of their family homes. The Department has established a waiting list, but few ever leave it unless a parent or other caretaker becomes ill or dies, the lawsuit said.

"These individuals have been for years diverted to a so-called 'wait-list' for such services, with no guarantee, and little hope, of accessing the services they need," said R. Scott Thompson of Lowenstein Sandler.

"The failure of the state to provide community services for thousands of individuals has had a devastating effect," said Emmett Dwyer, DRNJ's Director of Litigation. "Thousands of people are stuck at home going nowhere, and many of them have been unnecessarily placed in institutions when their elder parents could no longer care for them."