WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge on Friday ordered Florida officials to change their Medicaid program for children with disabilities, stop putting the children into nursing homes and make it easier for them to receive care at home with their families.
U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration failed to provide services and home care options for parents of children with ventilators, feeding tubes and other medical needs, effectively forcing disabled children to be institutionalized in nursing homes.
The state, however, launched its appeal Monday, according to the News Service of Florida.
As of the ruling, there are approximately 140 children with disabilities being housed in nursing homes in Pinellas and Broward counties. Another 1,800 children are at risk of being sent to nursing homes due to a lack of care options. According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the trial included testimony of parents who felt like they had no choice but to have their children institutionalized.
The Miami Herald reported the testimony of a 19-year-old woman who felt neglected, isolated and depressed at the facility where she spent four years under constant care.
Under the terms of the ruling, Florida will have to take steps to ensure that children with disabilities have access to at-home care services, develop transition plans to help institutionalized children make their way back into their communities, and to help families make informed choices about where their children are treated. Judge Middlebrooks said he would appoint a court monitor to make sure Florida complies with his order.
Kristen Clarke, assistant AG for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a press release that the ruling would impact hundreds of vulnerable children and their families.
"The court’s ruling sends a clear message that children with complex medical needs deserve to grow up with the love and support of their families and should not be confined to nursing facilities where they are stripped apart from their communities," Clarke said.
The decision ended a decade of litigation that began in July 2013 when the U.S. Department of Justice sued Florida claiming its practices violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
