In his latest report, the state’s Ombudsman for Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities and Their Families offers an urgent warning and blueprint to the administration of the next New Jersey governor on both the progress and failures of New Jersey’s system of care for vulnerable residents. Despite calls for change, it’s a system that’s rife with abuse, neglect and unsafe conditions and bureaucracy that caregivers need to tackle as they try to seek help.
Paul Aronsohn was appointed to the newly created role of ombudsman by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018. Since then, his office has been in touch with hundreds of providers and advocacy organizations, while also receiving thousands of complaints from individuals and families. Aronsohn notes that the most recent annual report may well be his last as a new governor will take over from Gov. Phil Murphy in 2026. He emphasizes that during his tenure he uncovered a tale of two systems.
“On one hand we have a very good system … We have a lot of good people in and out of government and a lot of resources,” said Aronsohn in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “But what we deal with in our office largely is people who are essentially falling through the cracks in the system, folks who are dealing with abuse and neglect, folks that aren’t getting the supports and services they need.
“A lot of this work is hard whether you’re on the front lines as direct support provider or a provider agency. It’s not easy, but none of this is rocket science,” he said. “We know the way forward. We know how to stop abuse and neglect through workforce, through paying direct support providers a living wage, to train them, to hold them accountable, to hold provider agencies accountable. We have a system right now that if a provider agency continues to do something wrong, or doesn’t follow through on a corrective plan of action, there’s no financial penalty, there’s no repercussion.”
Aronsohn added: “I get this sinking feeling every once in a while that there’s this too-big-to-fail mentality, that there’s a concern we have to be careful of how we treat these provider agencies for fear they’ll pack up and leave. And I don’t think that’s the case. We need more accountability, more investigations … right now most are conducted by the private agencies themselves and that doesn’t make any sense.”
