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Exclusive: Loophole allows 'flop houses' for mentally ill
By Alex ParkerJuly 30, 2009
The South Side group home that waited six days to notify a
mentally ill resident's family of hisdisappearance earlier this
month was in business even though its parent company is dissolved,
itsproperty has been foreclosed upon, its business office is
boarded up and its phones are disconnected.
No one was monitoring the situation at the Bridging the Gap
facility because a legal loophole in Illinoisallows such community
homes to care for a fragile mental health population without state
regulation orsupervision, a Daily News investigation shows.
Its another one of those horrifying little sidebars in public
mental health policy in Illinois, says TonyZipple, CEO of
Thresholds, an organization that provides services to about 7,000
mentally ill Chicagoans.
These places are essentially unregulated.
Shalom Carter, 32, walked away from the Bridging the Gap
community living facility on July 5. He wasfound 18 days later
after he'd walked about 13 miles from the home to a suburban Cook
County bar,where he was then arrested and placed in a mental health
facility.
Bridging the Gap's Web site says it is a non-profit communal
living facility that provides services toresidents with physical or
mental challenges.
It offers 24-hour monitoring, medication management, case
management and psychosocial rehabilitationconducted by
"credentialed care teams," at three South Side locations, the site
says.
But a trip to those locations provides a different picture.
One of the homes has been vacant for about a month, neighbors
say, and the other is boarded up. Allthree homes have been
foreclosed upon, records show.
The address listed as Bridging the Gap's business offices is
boarded up, and has been for years,according to neighbors. Phone
numbers for the homes are disconnected; a phone number for
thebusiness office directs callers to another number that goes
unanswered.
On two recent evening visits, a resident told a Daily News
reporter that no staff members were presentbecause they were
working other jobs.
Records at the Illinois Secretary of State's office show the
company was incorporated as a nonprofit in2007, but was dissolved
in 2008 after failing to file an annual report.
Incorporation documents list the company's officers as Cynthia
Berry, Tanya Lee and Toya Westbrook.
Berry and Lee could not be reached for comment.
Westbrook says Berry approached her to help start Bridging the
Gap. But Westbrook quickly realizedBerry and Lee did not know
enough about providing mental health services to run a
business.
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I didnt know much about it. Thats why I got out of it, says
Westbrook, who says she withdrew from thebusiness after about a
week. They started something, but they didnt know what they were
doing.
Strict standards
Other states have strict rules regarding regulation of group
homes.
Florida, for example, requires all homes providing mental health
services to be certified by the state andto have a nurse on
staff.
I think there is somewhat of an understanding, at least in
Florida, if you put your loved one in a facilitywith a
licensetheres at least some minimum standards of oversight for
those facilities, says Dr. J. PaulRollings, a regional director of
mental health services for Florida's Department of Children and
FamilyServices.
New Yorks laws dictate homes providing services to five or more
unrelated people be licensed, andrequire swift notification of
missing residents.
Michigan outlines the duties expected of staff members at
so-called adult foster care homes.
In Illinois, several agencies share regulation of homes for the
mentally ill.
The Illinois Department of Public Health certifies homes that
include nursing care. The Department ofHuman Services certifies
nearly 2,500 homes that receive state and federal dollars to care
for thementally ill, but does not license those that receive no
government money. The Department of Childrenand Family Services
certifies foster homes and day care for children.
Cathy Cumpston, chief of DHS's Bureau of Accreditation,
Licensure and Certification, says its notuncommon for group homes
in Illinois to operate with no oversight.
Quite often in settings where people with mental illness live,
theres no licensure from (the Department of
Public Health). DHS has no licensing standards for homes for
people with mental illness, she says.
The state does not allow hospitals to discharge mental health
patients to unlicensed group homesbecause they are are not adequate
for provision of mental health care, says Dan Wasmer,
actingregional director of DHS's mental health division.
But it does not stop such homes from caring for other patients
outside of government-funded programs.
A person can say they provide (mental health services) and
charge somebody for it, but if the personswilling to pay for it
directly, they dont have to be involved with (the mental health
department) at all,Wasmer says.
Rogue homes
Mental health advocates say the state's patchwork of regulation
allows the operation of rogue homes,which receive no state or
federal money and can operate by their own rules, sometimes to the
detrimentof mentally ill residents.
What they amount to is really unregulated boarding homes, says
Zipple, the Thresholds CEO.
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State Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), a member of the Senates
human services committee, says thelack of oversight of such group
homes is part of a state-wide trend that isolates people with
mentalillnesses.
She worries that the lack of oversight of group homes could have
devastating consequences.
Youve seen what happens there with the cemeteries where theres
no license, either, she says.
Its unclear how many unlicensed homes exist in Chicago.
I wish I knew. We have tried to get an answer to that question,
says Deborah Kennedy, director of theabuse and investigation unit
for Equip for Equality, a group that advocates for the legal rights
of thementally ill.
Opportunities for entrepreneurs
Suzanne Andriukatis, executive director of the Alliance for the
Mentally Ill of Greater Chicago, says its notuncommon for
entrepreneurs to start such operations with the dual goals of
helping people and makingmoney.
But with no government funding, and the group homes relying on
meager rent checks from tenants, thereis little they can do in the
way of providing services, she says.
What they basically are then is a flop house, Andriukatis says.
Where the problem comes in is whenthey give themselves a name that
sounds like theyre an organization that gives themselves a
namebeyond what theyre capable of doing.
Shalom Carters mother, Eileen Love, says she was considering
suing Bridging the Gap before her sonwas found.
When he disappeared, she says, workers at the home didnt notify
the family because they believed
Carters free spirit wasnt a cause for worry.
The home never called the police. Bridging the Gap notified the
family six days after Carter left the home.Carter's family called
the Chicago Police Department. Officers circulated flyers about
Carter'sdisappearance, one of which ended up at the mental health
center where he was eventually committed.
After Bridging the Gap's lapse, Love says, the organization
worked hard to help find her son.
This Bridging the Gap helps guys, she says. "This could have
worked for him."
One resident who was recently released from jail, she says, was
able to get his life in order after living inthe home.
But, she says, representatives from the home told her it was
certified by whom she isnt sure and theyallowed Carter to smoke
marijuana in the home. She says house managers pushed their
cookingresponsibilities to Carter and didn't enforce a curfew.
He has income," Love says. "I think the bottom line is they just
wanted to keep that income coming.
Daily News staff writer Adrian Uribarri contributed to this
report.
