Missouri: Moms Know Best

JEFFERSON CITY

Angry that Gov. Matt Blunt (R) has refused to meet with them, about 75 family members of clients at three habilitation centers recently staged a sit-in at the governor's office; they were joined there by workers belonging to Local 2730 (Council 72). Holding photos of loved ones, the protesters — many of them mothers — also rallied on the steps of the state capitol, then met with the governor's staff. They denounced Blunt's decision to shut down the Bellefontaine center and push its clients into private group homes.

"The governor is very wrong on this," says Josephine Scott, whose daughter is a resident at Bellefontaine. "I know what's best for my daughter, and this center is a good place."

Adds Bert Sterbenz, president of The Greater St. Louis Parents Advocacy Group for Mentally Retarded Citizens, "A state-run habilitation center is equipped and staffed to care for the profoundly retarded and medically fragile. Moving them to something less in the community could kill them." Families say privately run facilities don't offer the same services and environment as their state-operated counterparts.

"Rather than shut them down, the state should strengthen these centers," declares Local 2730 Pres. Quincy Boyd, who organized the "March of the Mothers of Hab Center Clients," the name given the protest action.