The METO Settlement

Pamela Hoopes: MDLC's mission and duties under the Protection and Advocacy system include investigating abuse and neglect allegations, and we were alerted to some possible serious problems at METO by the Ombudsman for Development Disabilities who had been investigating some possible neglect and abuse situations in the facility.

When we went out there, we found that, in fact, there were some very serious problems, and we became involved both in doing some investigating of our own of improper use of seclusion and, particularly, restraint. But also, we were very concerned about really, really long lengths of stay of a lot of the residents of the facility.

And we then undertook advocacy representation of more than a dozen residents to not only work on their treatment plans and work on problems with the use of restraint or seclusion while they were living there, but we really made a big emphasis to try and get them out into more integrated settings in the community with appropriate supports.