Residents living with a mental illness in Baltimore County, Md., have more to worry about than the potential stigma they could face. As The Baltimore Sun reports, they soon might not have a place to live.
A 2010 study found that the Baltimore area is among the 30 least affordable rental markets in the United States for people receiving disability support, with Maryland being one of the least affordable states. Currently in Baltimore County, more than 220 people are waiting for one of the 321 residential rehabilitation program (RRP) slots to open.
“We’re looking at a system where you’ve got limited resources and where you’ve got a demand that exceeds the resources,” said Robert Blankfeld, who helps with RRP placements as head of the county’s Core Service Agency, the local authority responsible for mental health services. “We frequently get the call or run into the situation where you have an aging adult parent who’s been taking care of an aging adult child in the home setting, and that situation has gone along for various numbers of years, at various levels of stability. And it’s been working out, but now with the parent aging, they aren’t able to care for their adult child.”
Read the rest of The Baltimore Sun article
Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Email her at hrudow@counseling.org.
Comments are closed.