I t has come to my attention that The Arc of Monmouth County will no longer be able to continue their mental/behavioral health services due to budget cuts. The Arc was receiving $392,000 through the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), but this will end in December.
Our son, who has autism, needs this service to retain a psychiatrist who understands his disability and provide him with needed medicine. I was sent to The Arc by the staff at the Monmouth Medical Crisis Center in Long Branch. I was told that they had no one there who could help adults with autism in the mental health field.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick was the same; they treat children only. The Arc was there for my son when no one else was. He waited six months to get in.
If this clinic closes, these people will have no place else to go. When hospitals have to refer people with autism who are on Medicaid to The Arc, this tells a tale. The lack of services for adults with autism in this state is dismal and getting worse.
Autism rates here in New Jersey are the highest in the county— one out of 28 boys, compared to one out of 42 nationally. It is rising. Your own future children and grandchildren are not immune.
Tell them to restore the funding. The Arc is there for the disabled — where is the state?
Visit www.state.nj.us/governor/contact or email DDD Commissioner Jennifer Velez at [email protected] and Assistant Commissioner Liz Shea at [email protected]. Patricia Koch Long Branch