CITING budget constraints and the ever-shrinking populations in state institutions, Cov. James R. Thompson made the controversial announcement in February that he would close the Dixon Developmental Center in Dixon, the A. L. Bowen Developmental Center in Harrisburg and the H. M. Adler Mental Health Center in Champaign. In March, he announced that the Illinois Visually Handicapped Institute in Chicago (IVHI) would also be closed, but in April said this closing would be delayed, at least until the end of the fiscal year.

Closing the Dixon Center, which cares for approximately 646 retarded adults, is expected to save the state $6.3 million in fiscal 1983. Closing Bowen, which specializes in the care of severely retarded children, would save about $1.8 million; closing Adler, which cares for mentally ill children and some retarded children, would uve $1 million. IVHI provides concentrated training in adjusting to visual impairment and has 250 adult residents who generally stay from two to five months; closing IVHI would save about $1 million.

The governor's announcements have jenerated opposition. The American Federation of State, County and Muncipal Employees (AFSCME) may back the decision to close the Dixon Center if it is converted into a medium security prison and certain programs are preserved. The governor has said that Dixon residents will be moved to certified facilities, preferably within the same mental health region. (Meanwhile, the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities is working to correct deficiencies uncovered at the Howe Developmental Center in Tinley Park where some Dixon residents had been transferred in a move not related to the planned closing.)

An injunction was filed in the Cook County Circuit Court in" March by AFSCME, parents of children at the Bowen and Adler centers and parents' groups to keep the centers open until their funds run out at the end of the fiscal year. A similar injunction has been filed by AFSCME, the Illinois Association of the Blind and the National Associaton of Workers for the Blind to keep the IVHI open. This would give the General Assembly (which defeated the governor's attempt to close Adler last year) a chance to restore funding or to agree with the governor's decision.

Both the Adler and Bowen centers are small facilities built in the 1960s. Controversy over their closing centers around the quality of care the children would get if transferred elsewhere and the ability of the state to continue funding the centers. Both centers have a comparatively small number of patients (44 at Adler, 157 at Bowen) and a large staff (104 at Adler, 228 at Bowen). Half the children at Adler are scheduled to be released or sent to facilities near their homes; the other half will be transferred to a unit at the Adolph Meyer Mental Health Center in Decatur, an adult facility. Half of the staff will also be given a chance to transfer to Meyer Center. The residents at Bowen will be transferred to the Anna Mental Health and Developmental Center, also an adult facility. Thompson has promised to try to transfer a special education program and a program for the hearing-impaired mentally ill from Bowen to Anna.

But AFSCME public relations director Hank Scheff says that these efforts are inadequate and will result in a deterioration of care. "It is bad policy to shut down smaller, more modern facilities that are nationally recognized for the quality of their care," he said. "Adler in particular has been uniquely successful in getting children back to their parents," he said.

Scheff also describes as "a joke" the state's claim that the training offered by IVHI can be replaced with community-based services. "Once a month for an hour is not the same as eight hours a day. It will take much longer to learn the same skills," he said. But Jane Christman, public relations officer at the Department of Rehabilitation Services (DORS), which manages both IVHI and community services for the visually impaired, believes there will be no fall-off in services. She also notes the $1 million budget required by IVHI pays for comparatively few workers and residents.

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There are adjustments DORS can make within the department, says Christman. These include expanding its community services program which "does the same kind of thing as IVHI" and has long worked in tandem with IVHI, DORS can also expand services at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired at Jacksonville, which now serves only school age children and is closed during the summer. This might replace some of the intensive training provided by IVHI. The department may also consider contracting for services with private agencies. □

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