Group weighs risk of housing sex offenders with disabled

A federally commissioned advocacy group for disabled people is investigating the risk, if any, mentally disabled group home residents face when developmentally disabled sex offenders are housed in the same facility.

Shawn DeLoyola, executive director of Missouri Protection & Advocacy, said the agency has opened a case to address the issue.

"I was shocked," he said when he learned of the policy, supported by the Missouri Department of Mental Health and the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmentally Disabled. "That seemed at odds with protecting those with developmental disabilities with those that would sexually abuse them."

Bob Bax, Department of Mental Health spokesman, was unavailable Monday for comment about the practice.

The Missouri Protection & Advocacy is a legal rights organization federally mandated to protect the rights of disabled Missourians.

Neither state-operated or private residential facilities are required to notify caregivers that a developmentally disabled sex offender may be residing in the same facility, DeLoyola said.

"It does not make any sense to me that parents with children in the system, or relatives with family members in the system or guardians aren't being informed of the potential risk," he said.

Representatives from the Southeast Missouri Residential Services in Sikeston, a habilitation center under the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities under the Missouri Department of Mental Healthand Country Gardens RCFII, a residential facility serving mentally handicapped adults in Cape Girardeau, could not be reached for comment Monday about client safety policies or if caregivers are notified of the presence of a sex offender residing in the facility.

DeLoyola said sex offenders placed in residential homes with other mentally retarded patients are also mentally retarded. What he does not yet know is the severity of their crimes, the chance they will offend in a residential community, the number of offenders in residential homes where mentally retarded patients live or in which residences they are living. That is what the investigation will reveal, he said.

"It's appropriate for parents to be concerned, for caregivers to be concerned," he said.

DeLoyola recommends parents and other caregivers contact the residential facility housing their charge and ask if there are any mentally disabled sex offenders in the facility and what is being done to protect their child or care recipient.

"We're supposed to protect individuals from abuse," he said. "That includes sexual abuse. The facts may come back showing there does not appear to be a significant issue here."

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