Direct Support Professionals Make A Difference
by Joe Rossi, Political Director, SEIU Local 200United

As many of us know, raising a child can be very demanding. Guiding our children from infancy to adulthood is a tremendous responsibility; nevertheless it is a responsibility that we naturally embrace. Many of us are fortunate to be raising healthy kids - physically and mentally.

But there are those in our community that tackle a much more difficult responsibility every day – they are raising children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. These parents do their best to raise the best child they can, despite their handicap. However, basic skill training is a task in itself and one that demands special assistance. Some parents are wealthy enough to hire a direct care staffer to work with their child in their homes. Some depend on the special education teachers and classrooms in our various school districts. Others depend on community human service agencies to provide professional care to their handicapped loved ones.

Human service agencies help develop a handicapped child or adult’s independent living, choice making, speech and social survival skills. These services are provided by direct care workers who have a calling for this special work.

According to the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, there are 135,000 people with developmental disabilities receiving services in New York State. Unfortunately, there is a constant turnover crisis with direct care workers in both public and non-profit human service agencies. The reason for the constant turnover problem is due to a lack of sufficient wages and benefits to maintain employment. Simply, after a long day of working with handicapped children and adults, direct care staff in these agencies go home with a sub-par paycheck that doesn’t cover the increasing energy bill, let alone groceries and transportation.

Although these workers find a calling to work with the handicapped population, they are forced to concentrate on their own survival and leave to work for a better salary. The result of this turnover crisis is not only affecting those that provide the care and those that depend on the service, it is also felt by the agencies themselves, who have to recruit and re-train workers on a constant basis.

According to a recent publication from New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies’ (NYSACRA) titled Direct Support Professionals Make a Difference: Shouldn’t They Also Make a Living?, “many organizations are experiencing of up to 40 percent for Direct Support positions. They continue to say, “the result is a system verging on crisis”.

Despite this growing problem, a remedy may be in sight. The solution: to pay a fair wage and provide quality benefits to recruit workers to this profession while also providing training in order to retain them. This remedy was attempted as a ‘Recruitment and Retention’ demonstration project at the Ulster-Greene County ARC through the efforts of NYS Assemblyman, and champion of the mentally handicapped population, Kevin Cahill. Through funding he received through the state, Ulster-Greene ARC workers received wage and benefit increases as well as training to further their careers. Not surprisingly, the turnover at this agency went from over 40% to under 10% almost immediately.

It is obvious that this issue needs the attention of our state legislators this year in Albany. There are some things you just can’t cut back on.

Joe Rossi, Political Director, SEIU Local 200United

Syracuse, New York