Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities

We serve New Yorkers with all kinds of disabilities by providing independent oversight of programs and services designed to meet their needs, and by offering legal, advocacy, training, information, and technical assistance services to promote their full inclusion in all aspects of community life.

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CQC Investigation Uncovers Serious Problems at State Facility for People with Developmental Disabilities

A joint investigation by CQC and the state Inspector General's Office uncovered a range of serious problems at the Valley Ridge Center for Intensive Treatment in Norwich, a facility operated by the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD). As a result, OPWDD has begun implementing a wide range of changes at the facility. CQC and the Inspector General's office also conducted broader reviews of conditions and procedures at the facility to ensure that safeguards were in place to protect the health and safety of the residents.

Click here to read the full report.

CQC Investigation Recovers $115,000 Stolen from Residents of Program for Disabled

An investigation by the Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQC) has resulted in the restitution of over $115,000 in funds stolen from 16 clients of Academy Green Residences, Inc., a Kingston-based program for individuals with disabilities.

Click here to read the full news release.

Members Appointed to Psychiatric Correctional Advisory Committee.

The Commission has appointed five individuals to its new Psychiatric Correctional Advisory Committee. The panel will advise the Commission and its Chair, Roger Bearden, on the quality of mental health services in New York State correctional facilities, as well as ways those services can be improved.

The committee was created as part of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) Exclusion Law, which recognizes the need to provide people who are incarcerated -- and who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness -- with access to mental health treatment during their incarceration. In addition, the law provides for the removal of inmates with serious mental illness from the extreme isolation of the SHUs.

Click here to read the full news release on the appointments.

Click here to read the letter sent by CQC Chair Roger Bearden in response to the Assembly hearing that was held earlier this month to review implementation of the new SHU law.

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