Levie Edmonds pours drinks before sitting down for a family dinner with Annette and Ron Wisniewski at their Caroline County home. PHOTOS BY PETER CIHELKA/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

View the Caroline County community page

Caring for disabled adults

Finding homes for adults with disabilities

Date published: 9/5/2009

By Flowers Umble

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Making matches is serious business for Tracy Mahone.

She asks more questions than eHar mony, uses more intuition than Chem istry.com and has a higher success rate than Match.com.

In fact, she has yet to make a bad match. Happy clients call in tears, thanking Mahone.

Her matches haven't taken any trips down the aisle.

A NEW OPTION

But that's the point. Mahone doesn't find soul mates for lovelorn singles.

She finds families for adults with disabilities.

The Rappahannock Area Community Service Board's sponsored placement program runs like foster care for adults with disabilities.

Advocates hail such programs as alternatives to institutions and group homes. The person with a disability lives in a natural environment: the family home.

As many disabled grow up, their aging parents become unable to care for them. Few options exist.

The RACSB opens about one group home each year, and each home typically houses six adults. The waiting list for such housing hovers at 150.

Some in their 20s live in area nursing homes designed for the elderly. Their families can't care for them, and there are no available age-appropriate places able to provide the level of care needed.

Sponsored placement won't bridge the gap for every adult with a disability. But it's slowly filling a need.

Currently, nine adults live in area "foster homes."

Eight more wait for just the right match.

Mahone labors over each one, asking many questions: What do you do in your spare time? Do you prefer quiet? What do you watch on TV?

She meets with every person living in the house--a step that often weeds out prospective providers.

The meetings help the most when it comes to making matches. Mahone gets a feel for the family, and uses that intuition when placing clients.

"It's important. The worst possible thing that could happen is to move someone in that house and you haven't made sure it's a good match," Mahone said. "Then, the only option is to move them back to the institution. Or they could become homeless."

MAKING A MATCH

And when she met Ron and Annette Wisniewski, Mahone knew almost instantly who would come to live with the Caroline County couple.

The Rappahannock Area Community Services Board's sponsored placement program is one of a few options available to families of adults with disabilities. An area private agency also offers a similar arrangement, and some companies in other parts of the state will place disabled adults from this area. The program aims to keep people with disabilities in the community, and out of institutions. Currently, eight people wait for placements. Some have mild intellectual disabilities; others need full care. Providers go through a rigorous process that includes home studies. Program manager Tracy Mahone said she has a drawer filled with applications from people she has weeded out. Providers do receive reimbursements, through Medicaid. They get $2,500 and more. They also get respite time and personal days. To learn more, call Mahone at 540/899-4436.

Follow us on

Date published: 9/5/2009