Great insightful article, thank you.

Another well written excellent news worthy story by Betsy Yagla. Thanks for all your insight.

Gary Kleeblat is quoted here as saying those 111 beds are to start bringing the 350 kids home. Funny. I watched the entire hearing and heard Dr. Mendlesen testify that he doesn't intend to bring those kids back to the state because he believes that they are in stable placements. These folks should get their stories strait before they start talking.

Betsy Yagla does a wonderful job writing her articles. She brings to life the face of a problem and writes very well. Thankyou Again Betsy.....

I would like to thank Besty for covering High Meadows and its possible closing. You appear to be very objective in your coverage, You do not spin the facts or the figures you give them in a honest direct fashion,and for that on behalf of the kids heir families, and the staff of High Meadows I would like to say thanks.
I would also like to commend Marta Reyes and other parents for standing up for their children and standing up for what is right it is tough to do so because DCF is a very powerful opponent who can bend, distort and make comments that are not accurate or true to further there objective which in my opinion is to close High Meadows to save money
They are now shipping kids out in record speed and with statements like everyone of these clients or should I say numbers would have been discharged even if there was not going to be a closure is one of biggest fibs I have heard throughout this whole ordeal. I really do not know how Mendelson or Hamilton can sleep at night after making these kind of statements. There are many comments and statements that I heard at the CON hearing that I can not let go by unchallenged just because DCF speaks it cerainly is not gospel.
Some examples are as follows DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt stated recently that it is possible that a child from Riverview Hospital may go to High Meadows but it would be a rare ocurrence well 42 kids or numbers to DCF have come to High Meadows in the past 40 months. So is Gary downplaying that issue,lying, or is he incompetent I chose downplaying unless 42 is really rarely come on Gary.
At the CON hearing Dr.Mendelson spun our heads with info on 111 new beds coming on line he was able to navigate his way through his testimony by trying to sell everyone that many of these beds will be ready almost immediately and many more by feb 2010. Well he did by deceiving and not being totally honest he mention a program called Touch stone they only serve girls we serve boys at High Meadows we did and could serve girls but the state had to move the girls when a private provider failed three years ago. Dr.Mendelson also stated that JRI would increase by 46 beds he lead commisoner Volgel to believe this could be done by feb 2010 I will be the first to stand corrected if that could be pulled off come on Dr. Pete get real they could not get on line in three months and you know it I just hope that Commisoner Vogel and here staff did not fall for that trash. He also mentioned that Mt.St Johns would also be on line for our type of clients but it appears that they deal with JJ clients not our type of kid can you see the pattern of deception I can.
Another issue that needs to be addressed by the good doctor and Hamilton was that 5-7 beds can be rady at CCP almost as soon as staff nursing staff can be sent there well what they left out was the cost 60 thou and I am pretty sure they do not have a certificate of occupancy yet so guess what more deception at Central Office.
Hamilton and Mendelson also talked at length about how there are 30 beds open or ready on a daily basis there is a reason for this and that would be the private providers can and will not accept many kids and did you know that the state often pays for beds at private providors when no one is sleeping in them it really sounded that Mendelson and Hamilton at the hearing were more worried about keeping private providers in business by sending as many clients or numbers to them even it is not a great fit for the kids. These two could sell ice cubes to eskimos but I remain very hopeful that commissoner Volgel will see through this shell game that is being played especially if all pretrial info is trully reviewed.
Futhermore they both talked about the reductin of residetial beds are down but the truth is that is not the population we serve our numbers are up the past two years not down we served my clients these past two years that we have in seven years.
Also they talked about 24/7 nursing coming on line with numerous private providors but much of that nursing coverage was by phone the nurse would not be on sight or even on campus this was another Dr.Pete trying to pull a fast one not giving the whole story just the part he wanted to let commioner Vogel hear that is deception at its best.
One the most troubling things I heard at the CON was the lack of feeling for clients and ther families from the commioner of dcf and Dr. Mendelson when stated that there are only 5 more kids and families that have to sent from High Meadows to CCP well there families will have to travel about one hour each way to visit without traffic and they also did not mention the other 4 kids who live in new haven or south of new haven who already where sent to ccp and finally the 3 others they want to send to JRI which is 1 hour and 58 minutes one way for one family, 1 hour and 28 minutes for another and 1 hour and 25 minutes for the third but as cold as they were about it they stated there is no evidence that distance is a issue for the kids/numbers or their families.
In emails sent to High Medows staff Hamilton told us we had to close for budgetory reason not need fiscal reason not need If the health care acess commitee keeps us open I wonder what the third try will be its so obvious that this is a monetary issue not a need issue.
The final trick or treat story I will share is that on Sept 18 Hamilton told commisoner Vogel that it would cost 11 mill to fix up High Meadows she lead vogel to believe that that what it would cost to finish or school building and our new rehab unit well those two would cost thousands not 11 million but she took a page from Dr. Petes playbook of deception and stood there with a straight face and said it. In truth most of the 11 million would have been for a new cottage and activity center which we could use but certainly survive without.
I find it very difficult to work for a boss who distorts and bends the truth to meet the her objective or should I say the governors objective. Our leder has been to High Medows three times that I know of once to tell us we were closing,once for dinner and she was 30 minutes late, and finally to see a show called bounce the clown there sure is alot of clowning going around.
My final thoughts on the con hearing is that there was a us vs them feeling in the room DCF leaders vs famiies, and staff and this is very sad the staff and families there on there own time and 15 dcf leaders probally on the clock Iam sorry of course on the clock probally worried if the staff were not on state time that attitude is very small the state is worried about money and staff worried about families and kids. DCF also has a remove anyone or anything that stands in the way of this closure but we have fought the good fight and did it the honest way not with fairy tales and have baked truths atleast we can sleep and keep our heads held high. So once again we will wait for Commisoner Vogel and her team to do the right thing and keep High Medows open because she and her team will see through this distortions and fibs read all pretrial and come up with a just ruling.

Thanks DEXTER

Excellent Article Betsy! I would just like to add that the commish hamilton was overheard stating to her lawyer during a break in the action that these were not real parents of High Meadows clients it is a setup! She was also spotted leaning over to one of her croonies and overheard her say that their in ass referring to one of the members of the oppossing team who was speaking at the time! Gov Rell are you paying attention!

Well put commments Dexter-
The governor, moody, DCF commisioner and her regime of puppets should all be ashamed of themselves for using the states most vulnerable children as your pawns in their chess games. The lies and distortions at the CON meeting we all are too familiar and numerous to mention from DCF and the puppets. I just hope Vogel will actually make the right decision and see through all the BS being slung by Hudson Street. I want to talk about how DCF said, We would have beds online. Well I think our kids are more in need than we would have been online. Just as DCF stated with the girls, we will have beds for them when Long Lane closed. Well where are they???? Thats whats disturbing, our boys need more than just unfilled promises and untruths.

DCF has said they want to close High Meadows as part of a plan to privatize residential care. High Meadows is on 52 acres of prime property and probably someone in CBIA wants to buy it in this depressed market.
OHCA's Certificate of Need hearing officer Cristine A. Vogel can only render a decision based on "need" not on finances. The 2009 monthly avg of children awaiting residential treatment is 109. As of 10/2/09, 310 DCF children are out of state so clearly there's a need.
Private providers have not set up on-site 24/7 care for the complex medical & psychiatric needs that these developmentally delayed boys have. Riverview Hosp is much more expensive since it provides acute care, yet many are waiting for a step down placement and some have waited from 90 to 150 days at this much higher cost to taxpayers of health care services.
This is due that Dr. Peter Mendelson of DCF has closed admissions at High Meadows since June 09 without a formal regulatory decision. He also testified that the additional private beds are currently not yet on-line. Dr. Peter Mendelson answered OHCA by stating that "We wouldn't want them on-line Junuary 1st because those beds would be out of business a month later. They would need to be developed over time and filled progressively as kids come into the system." Seams that DCF's CON request was pre-mature.
So there's a need for a state facility in case a private one shuts down. In fact most of these boys in High Meadows came from Lake Grove in Durham, CT which had to be shut down due to neglect and abuse (see legislative transcript dated 10/20/08 on Select Committee for Children). Full public disclosure of the financial solvency of these private non-profits should be audited by the Auditors of Public Accounts before transferring any autistic child, who aleady can't handle change, to a private facility that may likely shut down. Stonington Inst. & CT Junior Republic alrady have.
Long Lane was shut down 6 yrs ago and now bonding will be made to construct a $15M facility for girls. They've had inconsistent care and unstable placements all this time.
Yale Children's Hosp Endocrinology and Stamford Hosp Infectious Disease supports High Meadows to remain open.

Hollywood hit it right on the head with some of Commissioner Hamilton's comments. I was the person sitting directly across from her when she leaned over and called one of our employees at High Meadows and "ass" when he was through speaking. I heard it plain as day. She was also overheard in the ladies room saying, "I bet those weren't even real parents of real kids at High Meadows." To think that this is the person who is in charge of making sure we do the very best for the youth who are in need in CT. She should be ashamed of herself. I am ashamed to know that she is my boss!!

yes, I heard her call her own employee an ass as well. Wish I could say it shocked me. Her consistent unprofessional behavior is no longer shocking.

I liked what I read on someone's site...

He may be an ass, but he's our ass, and we love him!

frankly, he is only an ass in her eyes because he has been out there telling the truth. He's doing his job and he is doing it well.

The real "ASS" is Hamilton!

Alright, I agree with everyone's comments about the DCF commissioner as being unprofessional and childish. One point though, how about all the other key players like the Gov Rell/Moody and all her campaign promises to the private organizations who helped fund her election, how about all the stupid press comments from Keeblatt, now DCF's latest attempt to avoid bad publicity by telling more lies like actually attempting to bring home children home from out of state placements. How about all the lies and untruths mendelson said, during the con hearing???? BTW....He is a arrogant, smug, rude and out of touch with reality. I have talked to HM staff and always wondered how involved Riverview and CCP were in this process? Well the answer is NOTHING. Don't these other facilities realize they will be next in Mendelsons and the governors plan to privatize everything? They should have been beside the HM staff and helped support them. Shame on them, maybe when the shoe is on the other foot noone will be their to support them.

From Wikipedia:
Fuzzy mathematics forms a branch of mathematics related to fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic. It started in 1965 after the publication of Lotfi Asker Zadeh's seminal work Fuzzy sets.[1] A fuzzy subset A of a set X is a function A:X?L, where L is the interval [0,1]. This function also called a membership function. A membership function is a generalization of a characteristic function or an indicator function of a subset defined for L = {0,1}. More generally, one can use a complete lattice L in a definition of a fuzzy subset A [2].

The way in which the upper management of DCF thinks ,reasons, and decides puts all of the children in thier care at great risk. And for what?To save a buck.There are so many other parts of the budget that could be cut or reduced. The definate loss in the quality of services provided is not worth the small amount of savings that closing HM would bring.Children are not widgets. They hurt and suffer . Hamilton needs to resign. A vote of no confidence needs to be held to give her and the Gov the clear message that she is the wrong person for the job. Her dui still concerns me. Her side comments give us a peek at how she operates. She is a person who is willing to risk the health and well being of the children under her care by proclaiming lies and half truths. Hamilton and Mendelson walk in a locked step with Rell.Kleebat is a comic book puppet who spurts out the stupidity of the party line. Does he actually realise that most of what he says is wrong? You'd think by now that he could get his facts straight. He's just another embarrasment for the Hamilton cronies. A quality leader who has integrity would refuse to do Rell's bidding when the end result creates further harm to the children. Hamilton needs to hit the road. And the staff of HM needs to give her a boot in the ass.It's no wonder DCF still operates under a consent decree. DCF has been sued a number of times. One can only hope that the Attorney General's office will be able to back up it's opinion that HM cannot be closed because it is fully funded. I just don't see how Vogel could rule in favor of closing High Meadows. If she does, she falls into the role of just another politician. It's ironic that the fate of HM is in the hands of a commisioner who was appointed by the Governor.The staff and families of high Meadows need to remain united and strong. Just about everyone at the Meadows has taken some sort of action to keep HM open. We can win this one. We must win this one. When we do win,we will call for Hamilton to resign. Her days in office as well as the Governor's days are numbered.They are the Villans. They have no right to be in control of our children.