This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Families Sue to Keep Woodbridge Developmental Center Open

Loved ones of the disabled in the Woodbridge Developmental Center said their constitutional rights are being violated with the ordered closure.

Families of intellectually disabled residents are trying to stop the state from closing developmental centers in Woodbridge and Totowa, filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Newark this week.

The class-action lawsuit filed by 38 families alleges that the state violated the constitutional rights of center residents and also broke a series of federal laws by closing the facilities, forcing their families to either move them to smaller group homes or to more distant developmental centers.

A state panel voted last July to close Woodbridge Developmental Center and the North Jersey Developmental Center in Totowa], the only two of the state’s seven centers located in heavily populated northeastern New Jersey.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Family members protested that residents would be harmed by moving to group homes—which family members say are incapable of providing the level of service profoundly disabled residents require—or to other centers that are far from the families.

Read the rest of the story on NJ Spotlight.

Find out what's happening in Woodbridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?