FREDERICK, Md. (WBFF) — Noah Weikert can be shy when he meets new people – sometimes hiding behind his dad and grabbing his hand.
But at Beans & Dreams, where he’s been working for three years, he looks people in the eye and smiles.
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The coffee shop, located near Frederick, employs people with developmental disabilities and has helped Weikert develop social and daily-life skills. Weikert’s sister is paid by the state to serve as a job coach as he wipes down tables and works the store register.
But Weikert’s sister, along with his mom and dad, are soon facing tough decisions about how to adjust to state budget cuts that will slash their care-taking wages July 1 and their hours in September.
“Having cut[s] in their hours, being pretty much told that they can’t do things as a family with their child, forcing outsiders to come in — there’s just so many changes going on that’s got all of us not only confused but really upset,” said Noah’s father, Denny Weikert.
Gov. Wes Moore proposed budget cuts to the Developmental Disabilities Administration this year as he worked to solve a more than $1 billion deficit. The state said the cuts were needed in order to comply with federal Medicaid rules and rising program costs over the past several years.
But many families say the state’s explanation was a manufactured excuse and that the cuts are falling hard on the program that serves them, known as self-direction, and worry that they’ll have to find outside staff or providers.
“Outside providers aren’t going to understand what are the triggers or what are the signs that they have to look for to deal with a medical issue, or an emotional issue, or whatever it might be, where[as] we, as family members, we know the best, and I don’t think DDA understands that,” Weikert said.
For Connor McNeil, the cuts mean his stepsister, Sedona Smisek, will no longer be able to help him as a paid caretaker.
“If Sedona wasn’t working with you, how would you feel?” Connor’s mom, Donna McNeil asked him.
“Not good,” he said.
The COVID lockdowns were particularly tough for Connor.
“He has Carpenter Syndrome, and one of the parts of Carpenter Syndrome leads to obesity. So his inaction of sitting in his room for 18 months led him to gain 90 pounds,” Donna said. “Since then, and we’ve been in self-direction for maybe four years now, he’s lost almost all of the weight.”
Connor’s dad, Max McNeil, added, “That’s why we’re so devastated with these new proposed cuts because that was working for him.”
Tracey Hove is a single mom who will lose more than $1,200 a month to care for her disabled daughter, Jenna, when the budget cuts are implemented. But she’s going to do whatever she can to tighten her own budget instead of looking for outside staff.
“I had a lot go wrong with staff members, and it’s a very emotional thing to go through as a parent – that you’re not there to protect them when they’re most vulnerable,” Hove said. “I’ve had people put their hands on her, get up in her face and yell, steal from my home.”
Hove added, “If I’m going to be honest, I think that the budget deficit that Wes Moore has gotten Maryland into, I think he knew that this might be a way out for him I think it’s because of his budget deficit that he has decided to prey on the vulnerable.”
Asked for comment, Moore’s spokesperson, Ammar Moussa said in an email, “As you know that is not why the DDA cuts were necessary.”
Moussa previously told Spotlight that the state would risk losing its Community Pathways Waiver if it didn’t cut the DDA budget in order to comply with federal cost neutrality rules, which require the cost of care at a home or community provider to not exceed the cost of care at a state institution.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previously told Spotlight they never issued a public notice that the waiver was at risk of being terminated due to cost neutrality concerns.
While the wage cuts were set to be implemented starting July 1, the DDA said it could not provide a response when Spotlight asked to confirm the implementation timeline for this story.
Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at bjconrad@sbgtv.com or 443-578-2126, or contact the Spotlight team at SpotlightOnMaryland@sbgtv.com or 410-467-4670. Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C.
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