Eva and Jack Cogburn of La Grande put their autistic son, Michael, on the state waiting list for group home care when he was in high school. His parents have concluded he stands in a line that will never move until they die or become too ill to care for him. This wait list is really a blemish on Oregon. Oregon had one of the worst waiting lists in the nation, according to a study by The Arc, a national group that provides services and support for the mentally retarded. The survey ranked 47 states from worst to best.
Several states report no waiting lists.
State officials note those numbers include duplicate counts of some people seeking multiple services. What's more, The Arc's ranking is questionable, they say, because it compares states that have different ways of counting people on their lists. And one reason Oregon ranks so poorly may be because it keeps better records than many states, says The Arc. Still, at least 2,000 developmentally disabled Oregon adults live with their parents and receive no or minimal state services, says James Toews, assistant administrator for the state Office of Developmental Disability Services. We are pretty notorious for having lengthy waiting lists.