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DDS reports rise in public admissions, plans reorganization as Southbury census falls below 100
Summary
Commissioner Jordan Sheff told the Council on Developmental Services that DDS is admitting people into public services after private providers cannot meet complex medical or behavioral needs, announced a reorganization of public services and said Southbury Training School's census dipped below 100 and will fall further over coming weeks.
Jordan Sheff, commissioner of the Department of Developmental Services, told the council Jan. 16 that the department has seen a rise in people entering DDS public settings after private providers exhausted referrals and could not meet complex needs. "We dipped below a census of a 100, for the first time," Sheff said, and he expects the Southbury Training School census to fall toward about 90 over the next six to eight weeks.
Sheff said two recurring gaps drive public admissions: continuous nursing and clinical medical support in residential settings, and care for people with co-occurring mental-health and IDD needs that can become violent toward self or others. "With a provider staffing shortage, they're reluctant to take on some very challenging individuals," he said, describing cases that sometimes require repeated referrals or long hospital waits.
To better meet those needs, Sheff said DDS will reorganize its public services into divisional responsibilities rather than a single statewide public region. He said the change—affecting mostly managers and directors, not frontline 1199 staff—will roll out over the next six to eight weeks and allow regional directors more discretion for nonpermanent placements while Sheff retains authority over long-term admissions.
Sheff also described targeted pilots and training initiatives to shore up capacity, including day-program pilots that involve registered behavior technicians and board-certified behavior analysts and trauma-informed clinical training developed with regional partners. He said some measures focus on medical-model staffing in regional centers to support higher-acuity care.
The commissioner said the department has been judicious in admitting people to public settings, weighing prior referrals and provider reasons for declining service. He asked council members and advocates to remain engaged on workforce and placement questions as DDS implements the reorganization.
The council raised next steps for discussing Southbury's future uses; Sheff said he plans to convene a small stakeholder table to consider options for residents as the campus population continues to decline.
