This story is part of an ongoing series looking into recent cuts to Washington’s state budget. If there are impacts you think we should be covering, reach out to laurel.demkovich@cascadepbs.org.
Kurt Wyatt’s favorite part of living in his adult family home in Marysville was taking part in group activities organized by his caregiver.
He would see movies, like his most recent favorite: Lilo and Stitch. He could go shopping or check out a new restaurant in town. For Wyatt, who’s been living at the home for eight years, the activities gave him something to do and made him feel connected with the surrounding community.
Until recently, those activities were funded by a state-run program called the Meaningful Day service, which gave residents in adult family homes access to activities like shopping, bingo games and movie screenings. The program was meant to enrich residents’ lives, giving them purpose and routine and ultimately helping them manage challenging behaviors.
But last month, the program ended after its funding was slashed – it was one of many services cut in a $3 billion state budget reduction that will go into effect over the next two years.
To fill a multibillion-dollar shortfall, lawmakers approved new taxes and cuts across state programs earlier this year. Among those cuts was an $85 million reduction through 2027 in funding that had supported the Meaningful Day program, one of many add-on services offered by the Department of Social and Health Services to clients who receive Medicaid funding.
Of the 1,800 people with an intellectual or developmental disability living in Washington adult family homes, 1,000 had been using the service, according to the department. 529 adult family homes offered it.
With the funding now gone, adult family home operators are scrambling to find other ways to provide their residents with daily enrichment activities that many had counted on as part of their routine.
“It’s going to be so heartbreaking,” said Dorothy Schlimme, who operates three homes in Auburn. “It’s just disrupted our lives.”
A connection to the community
Schlimme and her activity director have always tried to find new ways to connect with her residents.
Sometimes they would take residents on one-by-one outings for pedicures. They’d hire musicians to perform for a few hours at the house. If a resident was having a difficult time, a caregiver could take them out for a cup of coffee. They’d celebrate birthdays or funerals.
Jeanine Taylor, whose father is a resident at Schlimme’s home, said the activities helped bridge gaps among the residents, whose ages and disabilities varied.
“It brings the place together,” she said. “Instead of being six individual clients, there’s more of a home feeling, even if it is just during that activity time.”
But without funding, Schlimme said, she is cutting her activity director and likely selling the bus that they had used to transport residents to activities offsite – decisions that she said are devastating to make.
“I see what we’ve been able to do, what these meaningful activities provide to our patients, and now we can’t,” Schlimme said. “It’s going to affect their health. Is that fair to them?”
Other options and legal pushback
Clients who were using the service will still have access to similar programs offered through the Department of Social and Health Services, said Jaime Bond, director of the Division of Field Services at the Home and Community Living Administration. These include programs that teach life skills or provide employment opportunities to people living in adult family homes.
The program most similar to Meaningful Day is called Community Engagement, which gives residents of adult family homes access to outside community programming.
These programs are offered by a separate provider, not adult family homes themselves, meaning clients must connect with outside organizations, which can be difficult, but Bond said the department’s case managers are currently working with those affected to make sure they know their options.
Adult family home providers, however, have concerns about these alternatives.
Schlimme said some residents always need a caretaker to accompany them on outings to help with daily needs, so engaging with a different program without their usual caregiver could be challenging. Other residents might prefer activities in their own home, she said.
Bond also acknowledged that there are not as many providers for community activities as there are adult family homes, so finding services for everyone could be challenging, particularly in rural areas.
“I can’t guarantee that every person who was receiving that service is going to want to have a different provider, or that there’s going to be enough providers in their area,” she said. “We are going to strive to do right to meet everybody’s needs.”
The Adult Family Home Council, which represents providers across Washington, is fighting back against the cuts, arguing that the reduction violates their collective bargaining agreement with the state.
Amina Abdalla, who lobbies for the union in Olympia, said its most recent agreement was negotiated with then-Gov. Jay Inslee’s office last winter. The parties settled on a $300 million agreement that fully funded the Meaningful Day program. By cutting the program completely, Abdalla said the state is violating that agreement and should return to the negotiating table.
“The Legislature cannot pick and choose programs from our contract to fund or not to fund,” she said.
The Council filed a lawsuit over the decision in June, and the case remains ongoing.
Long-term impacts
Endrias Wolderufael, who owns homes in Snohomish County that primarily serve residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, knows the impact that the program can have.
Two years ago, before he started offering the program, Wolderufael said he would resort to sending residents with extreme behaviors to a hospital if he was unable to care for them himself. But since taking part in the Meaningful Day program, he said, his residents can better manage their behaviors, and he hasn’t had to send anyone elsewhere for help.
With many of those activities now cut, Wolderufael said he’s already seen some challenging behaviors start to come back, and he worries about what that will mean for his residents who had relied on the programs to connect with others outside of the home.
“It’s very important for us to be out in the community,” said Missy Waltjen, one of Wolderufael’s residents. “It gave me something to do.”
Now, Wolderufael is looking for other partners in the community, like libraries or nonprofit organizations, that could help provide free activities for residents.
“I don’t have the finances to do this myself,” he said. “I don’t really know what I will do.”
