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Advocate urges Austin committee to press for higher pay, better oversight for group-home staff
Summary
A community mental-health worker asked the Mayor's Committee for People with Disabilities to press for actions after news reports of staff abuse and low wages in licensed group homes; committee members agreed to consider adding the issue to a future agenda, but offered few immediate options for city action.
Melanie Grace Babbitt, a licensed clinical social worker and union member, told the Mayor's Committee for People with Disabilities on Feb. 7 that low wages and staffing shortages in state-licensed group homes are contributing to harm for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
"My name is Melanie Grace Babbitt. I'm here today as a community member, as a licensed clinical social worker, and as a union member with the United Workers of Integral Care," Babbitt said. She described recent news reporting of an alleged assault and severe burn at a group home and said the staff implicated were paid $10.60 an hour.
Babbitt…
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