Christopher 22, works on a drawing as Residence Manager Andrew Blake looks on. “Consumers here know how to get places on subways and buses themselves,” said QCP Director of Residences Ed Weiss in one of the agency’s group homes in Bellerose, which has been operating for seven years. “Some of them can say ‘I’m going to my friends or family, I’ll be back at this time,’ and they can do that on their own. We learned their skills when they first moved in.” The Bellerose group home holds six residents ranging from ages 30-70. One woman and five men all share house chores and take in recreational activities together. Their developmental disabilities range from mild autism to seizure disorders, hypertension, and mild schizophrenia, but all have been deemed able to live with a higher level of independence. “They each have their preference in music and different tastes, but they get along pretty well,” said Bellerose group home shift supervisor Marie Silien. Residents at the group home also like partaking in recreational activities, whether it’s bowling, Friday night socials at the QCP campus, or baseball and basketball games at Madison Square Garden and Shea Stadium. Weiss said that direct care staff members working at the group homes are required to have a high school degree, while supervisors must have an Associates Degree. “We go through a lot to check references and make sure we’re bringing in the best people to work for us,” he said. The QCP also has 24-hour staffing which gives loose supervision to its residents in helping them work towards employment and living on their own. The group home’s staff aids residents during fire drills, which are required every 90 days, and helps them manage their money and other daily skills. Consumers are even allowed to have boyfriends and girlfriends, though they undergo a process that tests their ability to consent in sexual activity. “If they’re shaving their face and miss a spot, we’ll help them get all the areas of their face,” Silien said. “We supervise them to make sure that they’re living properly. We’ll be hands on when we need to be, but mostly we give them assistance.” “What we’ve found with all the 78 individuals we take care of in our facilities is that they’re all caring adults, and they all know what’s best for them,” Weiss said. “Their disabilities in no way make them bad neighbors. For the 10 years I’ve been involved with QCP, I don’t think I’ve heard from any of our neighbors about problems with our consumers. Are There Too Many? CB 12 District Manager Yvonne Reddick lives in one of the few Queens neighborhoods that many say has a problem with oversaturation. Each time a group home or other type of facility is proposed in Jamaica, Reddick has her concerns. “They always come with that story about ‘we’re from your community,’ and when the question is raised if these clients are from [Jamaica], the answer is usually ‘no,’ so how are they going to tell me that they’re from our communities? We are housing a lot of out-of borough people, and that’s my concern,” Reddick said. State Sen. Frank Padavan, author of the “Padavan Law,” which has a community notice requirement for proposed group homes, said that a number of problems have arisen in regard to saturation in the past. When the situation does arise, however, Padavan said that the community board has a chance to reject the home or offer an alternative. The applicant would then have a hearing before the State Commissioner of the Office of Mental Retardation, and the final determination would be made at that point. “By and large, when you consider the fact that we’re dealing with Federal and State court decisions that mandate that those with mental disabilities, 14 or fewer in number, be considered a family unit in local zoning, we’ve done pretty well,” Padavan said. Often Misunderstood Some residents have voiced concerns over the effects that group homes might have in the community. At a May CB 10 meeting, in which a PSCH group home was approved for 103rd Avenue in Ozone Park, resident Distinio Lois Jr. said, “With all the good work that they’re doing, it could be traumatizing to our children being involved and associated with the ambulatory. The problem here is that group home managers may or may not have control of these people if they wander off and go into gated communities.” Nadia Velazquez of PSCH, however, said that people need to understand distinctions between mentally disabled and mentally ill. “I think people associate one with the other, and they might think our consumers are mentally ill,” she said. “They think it’s an asylum, but it’s not. It’s a home for people with mental disabilities.” Weiss added that the QCP staff takes great pride in their jobs. “I had the opportunity to work in an [Administration for Children’s Services] boys’ home in Rockaway many years ago, and one of the biggest differences in my opinion are the people that work here – the care that the people who work here put in while looking out for these consumers,” he said. “It’s never looked at as ‘I have an eight-hour baby sitting job.’ The staff gets involved in that person’s life; they know their favorite foods, they know birthdays, they know when things are going well, they know when there are problems in a person’s family.” Though there are some concerns, many are in favor of the group home concept. “People don’t understand it could be my child, it could be your child, your brother, your sister,” said CB 9 District Manager Mary Ann Carey. “It’s better to have them in the community and have more of a normal setting than to put them in a facility.” Padavan echoed that sentiment. “I am a supporter of giving those who are mentally disabled the maximum opportunity of living the least-institutionalized life as possible.”

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