In addition, a Bayberry staff member has been investigated for committing theft
by using claimant’s debit card to withdraw cash. Criminal charges are currently being
investigated against the staff member by the district attorney’s office. Upon learning of
these allegations, the staff member was terminated by Bayberry.
Claimant’s parents report that on another occasion, a Bayberry staff member was
verbally abusive to claimant. That employee was also terminated by Bayberry.
In addition, Bayberry has experienced a higher staff turnover rate than claimant’s
family is comfortable with, and they find the training of new staff members to be
insufficient. Moreover, the staffing changes have been upsetting to claimant.
11. Bayberry has not filed any unusual incident reports involving claimant with
NBRC. California Code of Regulations, title 17,
section 54327 requires a vendor to report
any incidents involving reasonable suspicions of physical, emotional or fiduciary abuse
to the regional center.
12. Claimant’s behavioral issues have worsened over the past year. Claimant is
currently acting out by, for example, urinating in his bed, destroying property,
committing self-injurious behaviors, and harming staff members. Claimant’s parents
attribute his deterioration to the lack of training of Bayberry staff members, the high
staff turnover rate, and the lack of sufficient community activities provided to claimant.
13. NBRC is very concerned about the allegations involving Bayberry’s staff,
and the fact that the incidents were not reported. NBRC takes these matters seriously
and plans to investigate the allegations. NBRC does not oppose changing supported
living services from Bayberry to an appropriate agency that meets the needs and
choices of claimant, his IPP and his health and safety.
14. Claimant’s parents again requested that Lifehouse be hired as claimant’s
supported living services provider. Lifehouse has been in existence for more than 50
years, has a large, experienced staff, an in-house behavior trainer, many clients with
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autism, significant fundraising ability, and is a non-profit. Based on his knowledge of
Lifehouse, claimant’s father determined that only Lifehouse could provide the level of
care that claimant needs. In claimant’s father’s opinion, because claimant has such
significant needs, it is not possible for a supported living services agency to provide
appropriate services at the rate NBRC pays, especially if the agency is a for-profit
business that does not engage in fundraising.
15. NBRC began to investigate the feasibility of using Lifehouse to provide
claimant’s supported living services through a courtesy vendorization. Lifehouse
currently provides supported living services to a group of other residents at Sweetwater
Spectrum.
While it was looking into a courtesy vendorization, an NBRC supervisor
discovered that some regional centers interpret courtesy vendorization differently. NBRC
had been using agencies vendorized in other catchment areas in three different
scenarios: 1) to provide services to consumers moving from one catchment area to
another; 2) for services rendered to its consumers outside their area; and, 3) to provide
its consumers with services within its catchment area. NBRC learned, however, that some
regional centers do not allow outside vendors to provide services within their catchment
area because they do not have a contract with the vendor and therefore cannot provide
sufficient oversight for their consumers.
