Adult
Day Services: Transportation
by
Herbert D. Hinkle, Esq. and S. Paul Prior, Esq.
Hinkle,
Fingles & Prior, Attorneys at Law
2651 Main Street
Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648
(609) 896-4200 or (215) 860-2100
The
settlement of recent litigation handled by this office
has expanded or clarified – depending upon your
point of view – the right to transportation
to and from adult service programs funded by the New
Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities (“DDD”).
The litigation concerned several families whose children
attended an adult day program operated by the Eden
Institute and funded by DDD. DDD in turn used federal
Medicaid funds to underwrite a portion of its costs.
DDD refused to transport the four clients in question
because of the costs involved. Two lived relatively
close to the facility and two lived more than 30 miles
away. Unlike some of the day programs which serve
clients from a specific geographic area and are funded
to provide transportation, more specialized programs
like Eden typically serve a geographically diffuse
population, and are not funded to provide transportation.
The
clients challenged DDD’s refusal to arrange
transportation on two bases: (1) New Jersey law mentions
transportation as a DDD service can offer; and (2)
the federal Medicaid law requires the state to provide
transportation to certain covered services. The case
was settled when DDD contracted with a bus company
to transport the clients. The settlement is not a
definitive resolution of the transportation issue,
but it demonstrates that DDD takes such arguments
seriously.Parents of students with disabilities are
not without options if their local school districts
fail to offer appropriate services. The law allows
parents to resort to self-help to ensure that their
children’s needs are met.
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Hinkle,
Fingles, & Prior maintains a multi-state law practice
with offices in Lawrenceville, Marlton, and Florham
Park, New Jersey, and Yardley, and Plymouth Meeting,
Pennsylvania. They lecture and write frequently on
topics of law, aging, disability and estate planning
and are available
to speak to groups in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania at no charge.
Comments
and suggestions for future articles should be mailed
to: Hinkle, Fingles & Prior, Attorneys at Law,
2651 Main Street, Suite A, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
08648-1012.
Copyright
2007 Herbert D. Hinkle. All rights reserved.
