The former director of a Pueblo center where residents with severe disabilities were abused is now in charge of adult services at one of Colorado’s 20 community boards that manage benefit money for the disabled, a move that has angered numerous parents.
“They move the lemons around,” said Maureen Welch, the mother of a boy with Down syndrome and an activist for statewide reform in the disability system.
Valita Speedie oversaw the Pueblo Regional Center for several years, including 2014-15, when a female resident performed a sexual act on a staff member for a soda and when several male residents had words such as “kill” and “die” scratched into their skin, most likely with a fingernail, according to a recently released federal report. Speedie, who resigned last year during an investigation, now is vice president of adult programs at Strive, the community-centered board that serves people with disabilities in the Grand Junction area.
Officials at the Colorado Department of Human Services, which oversees the Pueblo center, would not comment about the circumstances of Speedie’s exit, calling it a personnel matter. The state is not in charge of hiring at community-centered boards, which are privately run enterprises in Colorado that determine who is eligible for disability benefits, link people with services and then bill the state Medicaid department for reimbursement. Services include case management for people placed in one of three state regional centers — in Pueblo, Wheat Ridge and Grand Junction.
When Speedie resigned from the Pueblo center last year, she blasted state human services officials for “strip-searching” the 62 residents as part of their abuse investigation.
“You don’t come down and strip-search 62 people and then walk away with nothing,” she said in May 2015, calling the searches unannounced and invasive. “You don’t put people out. This is like a Third World country where you can be put out and people say it’s an ongoing investigation.”
A state health department review later determined the strip searches violated the residents’ rights. Complaints from parents and guardians about the “body audits” led to a federal investigation of the center. The report of that investigation, given to state officials in August by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said numerous abuse allegations were founded and that the Pueblo center should have an independent monitor, among other reforms. State human services officials said the body searches revealed 10 cases of abuse.
Speedie did not respond to a request for comment, but both the executive director of Strive and the agency’s vice president for development called Speedie a high-quality employee who has improved services during her 16-month tenure at Strive.
“I felt that she had a high level of integrity and experience in this field, and that she would be a good member of our team over here in Grand Junction,” said Strive CEO Sharon Jacksi.
Jacksi defended Speedie regarding the abuses in Pueblo. “At any point in directing a 24-7 program, you will have some incidences that are not good and are very bad,” Jacksi said of the troubles at the Pueblo center. “It’s what you do to correct those that is important.”
Jacksi said it was her understanding that Speedie moved to get rid of the employees found to have abused residents at the Pueblo center. She noted that allegations of abuse remain a concern at the Pueblo center, saying the state must review the whole system for regional centers that house individuals with severe intellectual disabilities.
Jacksi added that she and Speedie have known each other for years and both worked for the state system for people with development disabilities. During part of the time when Speedie ran the Pueblo Regional Center, Jacksi was director of intellectual and developmental disabilities at the state human services department. “She has become a very valuable member of the structure here,” Jacksi said.
Jacksi said she left that state director position to move closer to her home in Grand Junction.
The new director of the Pueblo Regional Center, Deborah Archuleta, was hired in July 2015.
Parents of people with disabilities statewide were angered to hear that Speedie works for a community-centered board, where she oversees services for adults and those in residential settings. The parents’ reaction is the latest in a year-long backlash against the disabilities system, mostly regarding transparency in the spending of public dollars as well as abuse and neglect cases.
Edward Arnold, a Boulder father, said Speedie should be “barred from employment” in the system. Kathy Hartman, whose son needs round-the-clock care, suggested the state keep a registry of people who “either commit or oversee those who commit abuse and neglect of our loved ones.” Charlene Willey, of Westminster, called the disabilities system an “incestuous industry.”
“These people use the system set up for people with disabilities to make their comfortable living,” said Wiley, who said her daughter was abused while living in a Broomfield host home. “They provide little or no oversight on basic protections for this most vulnerable population.”
Julie Reiskin, executive director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, said the state should have more oversight of community-centered boards because they get the majority of their funding from state dollars. “The perception alone is concerning,” she said. “It is saying protecting professionals is more important than the safety of the individuals with disabilities.”
