NY Couple Fighting To Keep Son In Canton's Judge Rotenberg Center

CANTON, MA - A couple from Long Island is fighting to keep their son with special needs at Canton's Judge Rotenberg Center, the only facility they say has helped him overcome the challenges of living with severe autism.

They said New York 's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities is trying to remove him, putting his safety at risk and his progress in jeopardy, New York's CBS2’s Jessica Layton reported Monday.

“Not only did he graduate and we had a party for him, but he went to the prom,” his mother, Michele Atkinson, said in this story.

New York Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, who does not represent the district where the Atkinsons reside, is visiting the Judge Rotenberg Center on Wednesday to advocate for Joseph's care and to learn firsthand about the facility, according to an interview with his spokeswoman.

“We’re concerned this might be a pattern and happen to more families,” Hevesi said.

Hevesi believes New York's Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, which called for his transfer to a facility in New York when Joseph turned 21, is violating a law passed after other families said the state was abruptly ripping their children out of their group homes in 2014. The law allows the families to have due process with a hearing before a judge and a chance to keep their kids where they are.

“So they can make sure their children are placed in the most appropriate settings. The last thing you want is for people to regress,” Hevesi said.

The parents said in news reports that Joseph's graduation was the best day of their lives. His positive behavior was a dramatic change from when he lived at home in years past.

“Trying to harm the animals, trying to harm me and my wife, breaking things, windows, TVs, and he really couldn’t help himself,” his father said.

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center was founded in 1971 and is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a day and residential program licensed to serve those age five through adulthood. The facility houses and offers treatment for students with intellectual disabilities, who are on the autism spectrum, or who have behavioral issues.

It has come under fire in the past for the use of the Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED), which allows staff to administer electric shocks to residents via a remote control device. It is in the only facility in the country to use electric shock treatments.

In early March 2020, the Food and Drug Administration took the rare step of banning the device, only the third such ban in the agency's history, saying that the harm caused outweighed any medical benefit it could bring.

However, a federal appeals court overturned the decision by a 2-1 vote, allowing the Judge Rotenberg Center to continue its use to correct aggressive behavior.

Joseph's parents had planned on keeping him at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center's adult program after seeing the dramatic changes in his behavior with the therapy the facility provided for his previous violent and aggressive behavior. He learned to cook, make friends and hold a job.

Now his family fears that his progress will be dashed.

“I’m scared for his future,” Michele Atkinson said in a statement.

The Atkinsons have said that the facility to which Jospeh will be transferred to does not meet his needs.

“We have learned that there are people with disabilities who have committed crimes and are awaiting trial,” said Michele Atkinson. She was told he was being placed there because the facility has an open bed.

“They would be mixed in the same house and these are individuals who are being rehabilitated for murder, arson, rape," said father Joseph Atkinson. “It was not designed for Joseph or his needs. It was designed for criminals."

For now, the Atkinson’s son is still at the facility in Massachusetts, as they fight to keep him there long term.

Jennifer O'Sullivan, a spokesperson for the New York Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, issued the following statement this evening:

"NYS OPWDD is committed to identifying appropriate services to meet every person’s needs and to creating a person-centered plan to support them in New York once they complete their education in another state. While OPWDD cannot comment on any specific case due to strict privacy laws, we can tell you that student placements in out-of-state residential school programs such as the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts are arranged and funded by local school districts, and OPWDD works closely with each student and their family to identify an appropriate in-state placement that will meet their specific needs to ensure that the student can return to NYS, their official place of residency, and receive appropriate adult services for their developmental disability at the time they complete their education (at the end of the school year in which the student reaches the age of 21). If there is no placement available in NYS at the time of the student’s graduation, OPWDD has limited authority, on an emergency basis, to fund continued placement at the individual’s school, but only until an appropriate adult placement in NYS is available.”

A call also was placed to the New York governor's office.

A call was placed to the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center this morning, but it was not returned at press time.

This is an ongoing story. Check back for updates.