The Virginia Board for People with Disabilities (VBPD) recently announced that it has awarded a grant of $100,000 to the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV). The grant will fund the development of a database designed to manage the storage, retrieval, and reporting of abuse, neglect, and exploitation data provided from the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS).
dLCV is using the grant to contract with another organization for the installation of the new database and server. The agency will also receive reports of suspected abuse and neglect of incapacitated persons provided under agreement with the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services (DARS), division of Adult Protective Services. This project will allow the grantee to:
- identify trends of abuse, neglect and exploitation,
- make recommendations to address abuse, neglect and exploitation, and
- monitor critical incidents and health and safety of individuals with disabilities receiving services in programs operated or licensed by DBHDS.
“The Board is delighted to be collaborating with dLCV following their previous grant project, which allowed the them to work towards ensuring people with developmental and other disabilities were able to utilize public transportation to access community-based healthcare,” said Teri Morgan, the Board’s Executive Director. “We appreciate their ongoing commitment to serving Virginia’s diverse population.”
dLCV Executive Director Colleen Miller said, “This project presents a unique opportunity for the disAbility Law Center of Virginia and the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities to demonstrate the true power of collaboration under the federal Developmental Disabilities Act. With dLCV’s statutory access to all reports in the CHRIS (Computerized Human Rights Incident System) database operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, we will have reporting from more than 2000 providers in the Commonwealth, along with access to digital reports of alleged abuse of incapacitated adults from more than 100 Department of Social Services offices statewide, managed by the state’s Adult Protective Services.”
“This effort is unparalleled in the country,” she continued. “No other Protection and Advocacy system in the country receives this level of data about providers of disability services, and certainly none have ever worked with their DD Network counterparts towards such a goal. If successful, this project is very likely to be a model for the entire country.”
The VBPD serves as the Developmental Disabilities Council for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
- Submitted by Jason Withers, Grants and Contract Manager