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OCTOBER 18, 2011

The Arc of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Developmental Disabilities Corp. (PDDC) offer the following response to the recent news reports of the alleged criminal behavior against people with disabilities:

“We are outraged and saddened by the recent news of the alleged kidnapping and imprisonment of four (4) people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in Philadelphia.  Those of us who live and work with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities recognize that people are the same — we all learn and grow, hold down jobs in the community, pursue hobbies, and enjoy personal relationships.  Criminal behavior of this nature is reprehensible, particularly on such vulnerable citizens.

Pennsylvania has a forthright and clear incident management policy that is administered locally by the Philadelphia Intellectual Disabilities Services’ (IDS) Risk Management Unit.  They are extremely conscientious and perform admirably for the vulnerable population we support.  However, if an incident is not reported, or if the vulnerable people are not registered in our system, we have to depend on our neighbors and our communities to help us identify abuse and potential wrong-doing to ensure the fair treatment of our fellow citizens. 

The Governor signed the Adult Protective Services (APS) bill into law on October 10, 2010.  The law applies to people between the ages of 18 and 59, to provide protection against abuse, however APS was not funded.   We must fund APS. 

We should investigate this incident very carefully to guarantee that the appropriate oversight and our utmost attention are paid to the safety and well-being of our vulnerable populations.  We must do everything in our power to prevent anything like this from happening again.”