OGDEN -- Alice Hirai knows the state budget has to be cut as revenues decline, but she doesn't want more cuts made in the services provided to her disabled daughter.
The Legislature ordered the Division of Services for People with Disabilities to slash millions, but told the agency to trim staff, not services.
Marlane Hirai, a 42-year-old Ogden resident, has been greatly affected by the cuts, said her mother, Alice Hirai.
"Marlane functions as a toddler, which means she requires 24/7 one-to-one (care) for her safety and health," Hirai said. "Presently, she receives eight hours of one-to-one when at the group home, but the DSPD wants to cut to seven hours of one-to-one. They have already cut $20,000 from her (services) this past year."
Phil Shumway, executive director for TURN Community Services in Davis County, said funding designated for the financial support of people with disabilities in Utah through the legislative budget process has historically been held slightly below the rates in other Western states.
"The challenge for providers of services and support in Utah often comes from the manner and processes from which the allocated funds are disbursed through the Department of Human Services and DSPD," Shumway said. "The effects of bureaucratic handling eventually trickles down directly to the individual client, in this case, Marlane."
Alan Ormsby, division director for DSPD, said that in the legislative special session of 2008 and the regular session in 2009, $4.5 million was cut from the agency's state general funds. This year's regular session cut another $2.5 million.
"The Legislature gives us a budget and we have to live with it, but we are doing everything possible to make sure we are addressing the needs of people with disabilities," he said. "We look at every person's current needs and try to ensure they are being met."
Ormsby said so far DSPD has made several changes, including starting a hiring freeze.
"We used to have 274 employees in the state and region. Now we have 128," he said. "We had 25 offices statewide, and now we have 12. It's been a very dramatic restructure."
While the agency is doing everything it can to protect the health and safety of its clients, Ormsby said, families have a right to four appeals.
Hirai said because she did not agree with the service cut her daughter received, she filed an appeal.
"I had one attorney and one witness," Hirai said. "I disagreed with the decision DSPD made because I was not invited to participate at this meeting. Marlane's provider (TURN) also was not invited."
Marlane lives in a group home provided through TURN Community Services, a nonprofit agency based in Utah that provides services and support for people with disabilities residing in Utah, Shumway said.
"A person such as Marlane is dependent on funding through DSPD to allow TURN the staff, tools and housing to provide the level of support needed to keep her safe, healthy and able to enjoy her optimum quality of life," Shumway said.
"When funding drops below amounts to meet this need, the urgency to reconcile becomes an emotional issue because the life of an individual is directly affected in predictable ways."
Hirai said as a 70-year-old mother of a disabled daughter, she wants to have the peace of mind of knowing her child will be taken care of.
"I believe our society will be judged upon how well we take care of our most vulnerable population, the aging and disabled," she said. "Our state is not doing well in both categories."
Hirai said a final decision should be made any day regarding her daughter's case.
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