Flat Rock Care Center families push back on a call to shrink large care homes
A disability rights group's push to move residents into small community settings worried families of the 34 young people living at Flat Rock.
The Flat Rock Care Center, in the village south of Bellevue, has a long history of caring for children. It began as an orphanage and became a Christian residential home for young people with severe developmental disabilities. In early 2015 it had 34 residents, ages 6 to 21, whose needs were too great for their families to meet at home.
The dispute
Disability Rights Ohio, the state’s federally designated protection and advocacy group, said it could sue Ohio unless the state significantly reduced the number of people living in intermediate care facilities like Flat Rock. The group argued that residents should be moved to small, integrated, community-based homes.
Many families and staff at Flat Rock disagreed. They said some residents cannot make an informed choice about where to live, that some may move to group homes after years of support but many cannot, and that closing larger homes would take away care that works for them. Supporters circulated petitions through the Disability Advocacy Alliance and asked churches, groups and individuals to sign.
What happened next
Disability Rights Ohio filed a federal lawsuit, Ball v. Kasich, in 2016, seeking more community-based services. The case settled in 2020 with Ohio agreeing to expand options and information for people in large facilities rather than requiring them to close. Background is on Disability Rights Ohio’s site and at the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
Flat Rock is also home to the World War II sailor in Willis Lodge in Tokyo Bay. See what county government does. More in Community.