DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110669

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   60 lines

HOME FOR DISABLED ADULTS WITHHELD FILES, BEACH AGENCY SAYS A CITY INVESTIGATOR VISITED TO FOLLOW UP ON EARLIER FINDINGS OF NEGLECT, ABUSE.

Social Services officials said Thursday they have been denied access to records of a home that cares for three mentally disabled adults.

The agency said the home had agreed to let them monitor the Providence Road facility, run by the Richmond-based Fidura & Associates, in an interim arrangement while parents look for other placement for their children.

But when Adult Protective Services investigator Barbara Pratt entered the home Wednesday, agency officials said, employees at the home would not release the records she sought.

Pratt faxed a letter later that day to company president Jennifer Fidura to make sure she understood the procedures, said Kathryn Hill, service division administrator for Virginia Beach Social Services.

Fidura said from her Richmond office Thursday that it was not accurate that access to records had been denied. She declined to elaborate, she said, on the advice of an attorney.

Trouble at the home first came to light last month when Pratt found neglect and unreported abuse at the home.

On June 17, after on-site inspections that included a review of records, Pratt detailed her findings in a letter to Fidura. Pratt also told Fidura that Social Services intended to monitor the home for six months.

Three days later, Fidura, in a letter to parents of the three young men living in the home, said she objected to having social workers monitor the facility. She gave the parents 10 days to find other places for their sons.

But the patients and their parents got a reprieve when authorities from the city's Community Services Board and Social Services reached an agreement with the company three days before the June 30 deadline. The agreement allowed the men to stay put until other placement could be found.

Meanwhile, state authorities have completed a separate investigation into the home and will present findings to Fidura by today, said Lynne Helmick, regional manager for the state licensure board.

The Virginian-Pilot has asked to be apprised of the results of that investigation under a Freedom of Information request.

John and Denise Midgett, parents of John ``J.R.'' Midgett - whose unexplained bruising at the home led the family to complain to the company beginning last summer, and led to Pratt's June report - said they have yet to hear from either Fidura or the Community Services Board about what happens next. They have been in frequent contact with Social Services investigators, however.

As far as future placement goes, the Midgetts say they don't know where to turn. Officials have no answers either. They say there's no place for difficult mental patients, and there's not enough money to care for them.

Fidura said last week she receives between $75,000 and $85,000 yearly for the care of each of the young men. The funds are federal Medicaid dollars matched by state funds. But, she said, it's not enough.

Jay Lazier, director of mental retardation services for the CSB, said Thursday he is busy trying to find alternative placement.

Though the home's three clients all are now 18 or older, they were minors when they moved in about two years ago. Then, the facility also fell under licensure rules that cover facilities for children. KEYWORDS: GROUP HOME DISABLED ADULTS ABUSE

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