Is Mass. trying to close last two facilities for developmentally disabled adults?

No new residents have been accepted to Massachusetts’ two remaining intermediate care facilities that provide long-term care to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 2023, according to state records obtained by GBH News.

The Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services says it has accepted “zero” new admissions at the Wrentham Developmental Center since the end of 2023 and no new patients at the Hogan Regional Center in Danvers since the end of 2020, a representative for the department wrote in response to a public records request filed by GBH News.

State officials first told GBH News that it was still accepting people at the two residences that altogether house about 225 adults with developmental disabilities and autism.

When presented with the department’s public records that show no new admissions in years, Jonathan Tapper, director of communications for the state agency, suggested that’s not because of a change in policy — but that no new patients had met the criteria to be accepted.

“Within the time period requested, individuals who were assessed by [the department] needing residential services were able to be placed in community-based settings with expertise and capacity that met their needs,’’ he wrote.

The new admissions numbers add to growing concerns from some family members who worry that Massachusetts is denying entrance to people in need and harboring longer-term plans to shut down the properties altogether.

The facilities house a fraction of the population they once held before Massachusetts joined a national trend of closing state-run facilities and housing more people in communities starting in the 1970s — a move that many members of the disability community had long advocated for.

Colleen Lutkevich, president of the Wrentham Family Association, views the care differently. She and other family advocates for people with intellectual and severe developmental disabilities that are low-functioning said residents need around-the-clock care that is not available through other state programs.

Lutkevich says her 72-year-old sister Jean Sullivan has lived at the Wrentham center for the last 65 years. She says her sister has her own room in a cottage on the grounds and benefits from the institutional environment the 120-year-old center provides in residences located on 400 acres of state-owned land.

Lutkevich’s sister, she says, is diagnosed with profound autism, severe intellectual disability and is nonverbal. She says she enjoys the company of long-time housemates and staff.

Courtesy of Colleen Lutkevich

“There’s a large enough population that does need special care,” Lutkevich said. “If this closes, the expertise and the resources are gone forever.”

The state told GBH News it has no intention of shutting either center down. “Every individual who is entering [the department] for support and services is evaluated so they receive the appropriate care for their needs in the appropriate setting,” Tapper said.

But some families told GBH News they have struggled to get their loved ones accepted. Kim Meehan of Norfolk spent a year trying to get her 52- year old sister, Kristen Robinson, admitted to the Hogan Center after her caretaker — their mother — unexpectedly died in 2023. She says Robinson is a quadriplegic, legally blind and has a medical diagnosis of dysphasia and a seizure disorder.

“Our family asked over 26 to 30 times to high-up people [in the state], ‘Why can’t she be admitted to the Wrentham Development Center or the Hogan Center?’ And we were always told by the state that she was not eligible,” Meehan said.

Her sister eventually did get admitted to Hogan last year, transferred in from a hospital after being ill and stuck for weeks, and Meehan says she’s now doing well. But Meehan is still angry about how long it took to get her help.

“It’s hard and there needs to be more support — and there need to be places like this that people can have access to,’’ she said. “The state is ceasing access to these places.”

Meehan says she’s not sure why the state doesn’t include her sister in admission numbers released in a response to a public records request. The state declined to comment.

Courtesy of Kim Meehan

Moving away from long-term institutionalization

States across the United States started shutting down their facilities in the 1970s following an investigation by reporter Geraldo Rivera on deplorable conditions at a Staten Island institution. In 1975, the U.S. Congress passed landmark legislation concerning the rights, conditions and treatment of individuals with disabilities that led to a deinstitutionalization movement and a pivot to smaller, more community-based care programs.

In 1992, a federal court judge ruled in favor of mentally disabled clients in Belchertown, Massachusetts, that mandated significant improvements in the care and services provided at state-operated facilities like Wrentham and Hogan.

Irene Tanzman, who is a member of a group called the Saving Wrentham and Hogan Alliance, says she unsuccessfully attempted to have her son accepted at the Wrentham Development Center. Instead, she says her son — who has severe autism and other physical and intellectual disabilities — receives Home and Community-Based Services, a program the state offers to eligible individuals in their own homes and communities.

Tanzman says past problems with institutions were more to do with flawed oversight and lack of funding than the actual hospitals. Her group has the support of many local organizations, including the Massachusetts Nurses Association and the National Council on Severe Autism.

“The same problems exist today in community-based services,’’ Tanzman said. “The problem was never congregate care. It was very bad congregate care in a corrupt environment.”

The state has closed most of its state-run facilities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Among them, Massachusetts officials in 2014 closed down the Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, the first public institution of its kind in the United States to care for people with disabilities. The school closed after its population decreased sharply amid allegations of sex abuse, human rights violations and unethical practices.

Earlier this year, the Healey administration announced that it would be closing two other state facilities — one for severely disabled children and young adults, the other a mental health center on Cape Cod. That announcement was met with sharp pushback by disability advocates and prompted the state to put its plans on pause.

“The problem is now the pendulum has swung so far towards the group homes that it’s not a one-size-fits-all. Every disability is not the same,” Meehan said.

What comes next

Meehan and Lutkevich have reached out to lawmakers in their districts to garner support for the two facilities. Among supporters, Rep. Marcus Vaughn, a Republican from Wrentham, told GBH News that having more options for people with disabilities is ideal.

Marilyn Schairer GBH News

“At a time when our state faces a growing demand for specialized care and appropriate placements, reopening admissions and thoughtfully expanding that capacity at the center is not only practical, but it’s the right thing to do,” Vaughn said.

Even some leaders at community residential programs say that state-run facilities play an important role.

“It’s interesting because people’s impressions of institutions are dated,” said Brian Carbone, senior vice president of adult services at May Institute, a nonprofit based in Randolph.

The May Institute provides individuals with community living. Carbone said the homes are within neighborhoods and offer smaller congregate living that are less restrictive. But he said not all residents can live in community-based homes because they need more services.

“I think there is a place for the [two facilities], I think there is for those ones that are very difficult to serve, as I said before, in a community residence that can’t really support the number of staff needed to support that person,” he said.

But over the years, some groups have pushed for the closure of the facilities. In 2010, the Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation recommended shutting down the Wrentham and Hogan centers, funneling residents to community-based homes to save money. In fiscal year 2026, the Wrentham and Hogan centers are estimated to cost the state some $131 million to run, according to state budget data.

Lutkevich doesn’t believe the state plans to keep the facilities open. She’s no longer worried about her sister, who likely will live out her life in Wrentham. But she’s still worried about the future — and sees parallels with the Fernald school that shut down after its population dropped.

“They’re going to be yelling at you to close it, just like they did at Fernald,” Lutkevich said. “I am afraid for all the young families coming along.”

The Department of Developmental Services declined to make anyone available for an interview.

And Meehan said, no matter what, she will continue to advocate for her sister and others.

“That is the sad reality that the voiceless have no power and so I am a voice for my sister,” she said. “I have to get her what she legally deserves and morally deserves. She deserves to be where her family, her guardians, think that she would benefit most. And I think that their voices are forgotten.”