The loophole in regulating adult homes
Division of services alleviates oversight
Updated: Monday, 25 Feb 2013, 6:37 PM EST
Published : Monday, 25 Feb 2013, 5:55 PM EST
Published : Monday, 25 Feb 2013, 5:55 PM EST
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It was a killer fire in the worst possible place -- a home full of mentally impaired people in Palo, Michigan. Nine escaped on Jan. 10, 2010, but two died.
One of them, Christian Aversano, was the father of three. He was living at the home because, his widow said, he suffered a bad head injury and had other health problems.
She's filed a lawsuit in the case.
At the time of the fire , the home's proprietor, Tricia Parsons, spoke with 24 Hour News 8 but didn't want her face to be shown.
"When I got here and they weren't out of that house, I just, I knew," she said that day. "Because there was just so many flames and it's so cold and the fire just wasn't stopping."
State licensing and court records show Parsons has been in the adult foster care business since the 1990s. Investigations found repeated rule violations at some of her homes.
An Ionia County Sheriff's Department report suggests there was reason to worry about safety at the Palo home. A resident told investigators after the fire she routinely smoked in bed and tossed cigarette butts into a can on the floor.
That same resident burned the candle that began the fire.
Parsons remembered the candle, the report revealed. A detective wrote Parsons recalled it having "a decorative plastic face of a Christmas theme and would probably be flammable if the candle burned down long enough."
There was no explanation why she left it in the home.
The Palo home also seemed like a place that would require oversight from the State of Michigan Department of Human Services . That agency licenses adult foster care homes and inspects them.
But not in this case.
Parsons' Palo home was not licensed nor inspected because she found a loophole in the law that any home can use to avoid inspections:
An adult foster home has to be licensed and inspected if it provides room and board, supervision and personal care.
"You don't need a license if you carve out some of those services," said Jim Gale, the state's top regulator.
That's what Parsons did.
Her sometimes-boyfriend Clinton Houghton rented rooms to residents under the business name Brickstone Property Management. Parsons provided the other services, according to what they allegedly told investigators.
They put this arrangement into action after state inspectors threatened in 2008 to shut the home down for not having a license.
That was enough to satisfy state regulators, who later sent Parsons a letter stating she was no longer operating an unlicensed home since room-and-board was being supplied by one vendor and home services provided by another.
"Licensed AFCs (adult foster care homes) have rules and regulations they have to go by," said Maggie Kolk of The Arc , which advocates for people who live in those homes. "When a person specifically creates two companies to get away from being licensed, it throws up all kinds of red flags for me for people who are vulnerable."
She said this issue affects more than people with disabilities. "It will affect seniors because there are adult foster care homes that do service only seniors."
State regulators know there are unlicensed homes operating -- but they don't know how many.
Gale, the state's top regulator, said an unregulated facility wouldn't have any oversight. "So my recommendation, you would choose a licensed facility. But some people don't make that choice, and that's their decision."
Some residents of the Palo home had court-appointed guardians. It is unclear how much choice they had in living there. Parsons reportedly told detectives both men who died in the 2010 fire had guardians and were referreed to the Palo home by a Detroit-area company, Specialized Care Service.
No one from that company returned calls from Target 8 wondering why it thought an unlicensed home was OK for these men.
Target 8 left a business card at Tricia Parsons residence. She called once, but then became unreachable.
Sen. Judy Emmons, who chairs the Michigan Senate's Human Services Committee , also represents the district that includes Palo.
"You're pointing out another one that clearly is a glaring gap in the legislation and the law and something that we probably, we better start having some hearings on," Emmons told Target 8.
Target 8 will continue to follow this story.
One of them, Christian Aversano, was the father of three. He was living at the home because, his widow said, he suffered a bad head injury and had other health problems.
She's filed a lawsuit in the case.
At the time of the fire , the home's proprietor, Tricia Parsons, spoke with 24 Hour News 8 but didn't want her face to be shown.
"When I got here and they weren't out of that house, I just, I knew," she said that day. "Because there was just so many flames and it's so cold and the fire just wasn't stopping."
State licensing and court records show Parsons has been in the adult foster care business since the 1990s. Investigations found repeated rule violations at some of her homes.
An Ionia County Sheriff's Department report suggests there was reason to worry about safety at the Palo home. A resident told investigators after the fire she routinely smoked in bed and tossed cigarette butts into a can on the floor.
That same resident burned the candle that began the fire.
Parsons remembered the candle, the report revealed. A detective wrote Parsons recalled it having "a decorative plastic face of a Christmas theme and would probably be flammable if the candle burned down long enough."
There was no explanation why she left it in the home.
The Palo home also seemed like a place that would require oversight from the State of Michigan Department of Human Services . That agency licenses adult foster care homes and inspects them.
But not in this case.
Parsons' Palo home was not licensed nor inspected because she found a loophole in the law that any home can use to avoid inspections:
An adult foster home has to be licensed and inspected if it provides room and board, supervision and personal care.
"You don't need a license if you carve out some of those services," said Jim Gale, the state's top regulator.
That's what Parsons did.
Her sometimes-boyfriend Clinton Houghton rented rooms to residents under the business name Brickstone Property Management. Parsons provided the other services, according to what they allegedly told investigators.
They put this arrangement into action after state inspectors threatened in 2008 to shut the home down for not having a license.
That was enough to satisfy state regulators, who later sent Parsons a letter stating she was no longer operating an unlicensed home since room-and-board was being supplied by one vendor and home services provided by another.
"Licensed AFCs (adult foster care homes) have rules and regulations they have to go by," said Maggie Kolk of The Arc , which advocates for people who live in those homes. "When a person specifically creates two companies to get away from being licensed, it throws up all kinds of red flags for me for people who are vulnerable."
She said this issue affects more than people with disabilities. "It will affect seniors because there are adult foster care homes that do service only seniors."
State regulators know there are unlicensed homes operating -- but they don't know how many.
Gale, the state's top regulator, said an unregulated facility wouldn't have any oversight. "So my recommendation, you would choose a licensed facility. But some people don't make that choice, and that's their decision."
Some residents of the Palo home had court-appointed guardians. It is unclear how much choice they had in living there. Parsons reportedly told detectives both men who died in the 2010 fire had guardians and were referreed to the Palo home by a Detroit-area company, Specialized Care Service.
No one from that company returned calls from Target 8 wondering why it thought an unlicensed home was OK for these men.
Target 8 left a business card at Tricia Parsons residence. She called once, but then became unreachable.
Sen. Judy Emmons, who chairs the Michigan Senate's Human Services Committee , also represents the district that includes Palo.
"You're pointing out another one that clearly is a glaring gap in the legislation and the law and something that we probably, we better start having some hearings on," Emmons told Target 8.
Target 8 will continue to follow this story.
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/the-loophole-in-regulating-adult-homes
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