Jake Van Meter, a young man from Ellsworth with cerebral palsy, has spent the past six years trying to find a new home. He's on the verge of suing the state for failing to move him from the nursing home where he currently resides, into a group home with others his own age. In the second of a two-part series, Anne Mostue visits the kind of group home that's in short supply in Maine.

Jake Van Meter, a young man from Ellsworth with cerebral palsy, has spent the past six years trying to find a new home. He's on the verge of suing the state for failing to move him from the nursing home where he currently resides, into a group home with others his own age. In the second of a two-part series, Anne Mostue visits the kind of group home that's in short supply in Maine.

Jake Van Meter is 26, and for the past eight years he's been living in the Courtland Rehabilitation and Living Center in Ellsworth. The home serves people who are elderly or recovering from serious illness. Jake has outgrown his parents' home, which can't accommodate his special needs as a person with cerebral palsy, and for the past six years he's been asking the state to help him find a home like one in Scarborough owned by Creative Works Systems.

"It was homey. It felt like home. It didn't feel like an institution," says Jake's mother, Linda Elliot. Elliot has visited the home, which houses three men in their 20s whose minds are fully functional, but who are wheelchair-bound.

"The one thing I've also noticed about these individuals is that they have to learn really good social skills," Elliot says. "They discuss everything up front. He (Jake) says, 'We're smart enough, we know how to communicate, we know how to work through issues -- have a good format ahead of time to deal with things."

Jake: "We draw boundaries."

Mother: "We know boundaries, yeah."

The problem is, the Creative Works Systems house is the only one of its kind in the state. For Mainers who have cerebral palsy or other disabilities that severely limit what they can do physically or verbally, but whose minds are alert and active, there are really only two choices: live with relatives or in a nursing home.

"This group in particular spearheaded an effort to move into community living, away from their parents home, much more independent," says Susan Percy, the Director of Creative Works Systems in Portland, which supports Mainers with disabilities and owns the home in Scarborough.

She says its current residents -- two men with muscular dystrophy and another with a traumatic brain injury -- had to take an active role in their effort to find a way to live independently.

Support from their families, says Percy, was also essential. "We started a journey in 2005," she says. "It was the legislative session and I was sitting there listening to family members talk about the fact that there were no services for people who had other disabilies outside mental illness, mental retardation or developmental disability. And being approached by them, they asked if we could take a look at alternative services, particularly in residential support. And we said, 'Of course.'"

After a great deal of negotiation with the state, with the support of the Department of Health and Human Services, Creative Works Systems purchased the home in Scarborough. The state reimburses Creative Works Systems for the operational costs of the services provided at the home, which is about $800 per day. The cost of maintaining the home is covered by federal funds and Creative Works Systems.

"Here we get a lot more choices, we get to do what we want most of the time," says David Barker. Barker is 28 and he's lived in the house for three years with his brother, Chris. They both have muscular dystrophy. David has degrees from Southern Maine Community College in architectural and engineering design and marine biology and is currently looking for a part-time job.

"It was kind of hard living at home because I have to have my parents transport me around," Barker says. "That was kind of tough at times. We have friends come in once in awhile, we've had some parties here."

It looks like any other living arrangement for men in their 20s -- with sofas, computers, tvs and stacks of dvds. "I've heard this place called a frat house before. There's a lot of egos here, I guess you could say," says Seth Wilson, a senior life skills coach in the home.
"We've had poker tournaments here before, we've had WII bowling tournaments, which David is the undisputed master of WII bowling. We have a March Madness pool that we do, it's just for fun, it's all for bragging rights."

It's the sort of 20-something life experience everyone deserves to have, no matter what their physical capabilities, says Sue Molley, whose 26-year-old son Nick is the third resident of the home. After a high school automobile accident left him unable to speak, Nick lived in nursing homes in Maine and Massachusetts. "Nick lived in two places before, but this is Nick's first home. This is Nick's home," Molley says.

Jake Van Meter and his mother hope to find that kind of home for Jake in the Ellsworth area, or find the funds to build one themselves. Jake already has a roommate picked out -- another young man with cerebral palsy living in a nursing home in Penobscot.

If the state does not respond to their request by December 7th, Jake Van Meter plans to file a lawsuit with the help of the Disability Rights Center of Maine and the Maine Equal Justice Partners. The State Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the case or on the potential lawsuit because it has yet to be filed.