Families of people scheduled to be moved out of the Jacksonville Developmental Center met with representatives of Governor Pat Quinn Wednesday in the Capitol. Quinn is moving ahead with his plan to close the center by October 31st. Families say the process is moving dangerously fast.The Quinn administration says it’s been “careful and deliberate” in moving people out of Jacksonville Developmental Center.
But David Iacono-Harris says they’ve been rushing people out the door.
He says one woman fell and broke her leg in a new facility and another two ran away.
Iacono-Harris’ son, Jonathan, is a resident at Jacksonville. But he says the first people to be moved out have been wards of the state, those without relatives to speak on their behalf.
He asked the Quinn administration to create an oversight panel.
IACONO-HARRIS “The oversight committee would be able to look at the transition procedures and make sure that they were done in a safe and adequate way.”
Quinn says he believes people with disabilities will be better off in smaller group homes than large state institutions. But many families of people in developmental centers say their relatives have done poorly in such environments.
