TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jul 8, 2024

In May, the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) sent a letter to guardians and families of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live in state-run homes, informing them that the homes would be decommissioned for adults and repurposed to house children in custody of the Department of Children's Services (DCS). According to child advocates, DCS is now placing children with no known disability diagnoses for months at a time in those group homes to await evaluations for potential disabilities or mental health issues that, in some instances, they do not have. Advocates explain that while a child is living in a group home awaiting an evaluation, efforts to find a foster home halt, adding they are especially concerned that the normal safeguards for adults or children placed in group homes have been set aside for children in DCS custody. The Tennessee Lookout has the story.