Family Care Homes provide habitat to society's vunerable

Nov. 12--College towns and big city metropolitan areas with their high cost of living aren't the only locales where group homes are prevalent.

Cities and towns throughout eastern North Carolina have similar living arrangements but for different purposes.

Adult and family care homes -- commonly referred to as group homes -- are licensed by the state and established to house adults with special needs are in neighborhoods and communities in many towns in Onslow, Carteret Jones and Lenoir counties. The program is administered by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Services Regulation led by its director, Mark Payne, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

According to the DHHS, its mission is to "provide for the health safety and well-being of individuals through effective regulatory and remedial activities including appropriate consultation and training opportunities and by improving access to health care delivery systems through the rational allocation of needed facilities and services."

The DHHS lists 17 different facility categories under their purview ranging from nursing homes and cardiac rehabilitation to hospitals and hospices to adult and family care homes.

Within the seven-county area of eastern Carolina comprised of Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, Onslow and Pamlico counties, there are 23 family care homes. Lenoir County leads the region with eight homes totaling 47 allowable beds. Carteret, Duplin and Onslow counties each have four homes totaling 72 licensed beds. Jones County has three group homes with 18 total beds. Craven and Pamlico county have no family care homes.

Family care homes are defined under the Adult Care Licensure Section as having between "two and six beds." Operations with "seven or more beds" are referred to as adult care homes.

All four family care homes located in Onslow County are operated by the same limited liability corporation with three of the four homes situated in the same White Oak Estates neighborhood with the fourth home located in Maysville along Smith Road.

Pearl's Family Care Home's articles of incorporation were created on April 13, 2007 and are registered with the N.C. Secretary of State as a long-term care facility whose principal officers listed on filing documents are General Manager William E. Berry of Goldsboro, Secretary Rosetta B. Inmon of Raleigh and Administrator Martha Spicer of Elizabeth City. Each of Pearl's Family Care's four homes is licensed to house six adults.

Pearl's Family Care Home No. 4 is located at 102 Ash Place near the intersection of Birch Road a few blocks off busy Piney Green Road near White Oak High School. The neighborhood is a mix of attached town homes to single-family dwellings lining quiet, pedestrian friendly streets where children ride bicycles and students can walk home from school safely in the middle of the roadway or along its curbed edges as their desired pathway.

The residents of Pearl's Family Care homes are also occupants of the public space along curbed roadways fronting single-family homes many with manicured lawns and meticulously pruned shrubbery. Neighbors who spoke to The Daily News said for the most part, the group homes cause little annoyance. Ann Kottal whose property on which she's resided for more than 20 years said on rare occasions, a group home resident might have come into her backyard to retrieve a football that was overthrown but those errant tosses remedied themselves when a privacy fence was erected by the group home property owner.

"You might see one of them walking around outside during the day but that's it," Kottal said. More than a decade ago, Kottal was startled to find a man who was resident of Pearl's Family Care standing in her kitchen attempting to solicit a dollar from her. Kottal said the man left her home without incident.

Yet the serene image projected from outside the Ash Place residence contradicts the image one parent experienced over several years while her son resided there.

Carteret County resident Glenda McDowell is a trained social worker who has worked for nearly 10 years as a mental health professional in Morehead City. The Bettie resident placed her son, Anthony in the care of Pearl's Family Care Home on Feb. 2, 2006. Anthony, who was 22 years old at the time he was placed in the family care home suffers from mental health issues including paranoid schizophrenia.

"For nearly 11 years our Anthony was there we paid them each month nearly $2,050, "McDowell said. "I sent them $755 directly and they received $495 each month to provide for special assistance for Anthony and they billed the State of North Carolina$800 every month for my son's personal care."

McDowell's perception of her son's home began to change when Pearl's original owner Pearlie Berry died "several years ago" and her partner Eleanor Gibbs left the enterprise.

"They took good care of the group home and if you look at the reports during that time the home was in good standing and Anthony was taken care of and his personal care was met," McDowell wrote in an April 7, 2017 complaint to the DHHS.

This wasn't the first complaint lodged against Pearl Family Care Home by McDowell.

On Nov. 25, 2013, McDowell filed a complaint against the home alleging the facility had "violated residents' rights under General Statute 131D-21(1)(2).," according to a copy of the complaint investigation summary provided to The Daily News from McDowell. The complaint, alleging that staff members were verbally abusive and made threats to McDowell's son and other residents shortly after Pearlie Berry's son, William Berry took the reins of his late-mother's business.

Case workers from Onslow County Department of Social Services conducted three unannounced visits on Nov. 26, Dec. 4 and Jan. 17, 2013, concluding that the allegations made by McDowell were "unsubstantiated" due to "lack of sufficient evidence." Adult Home Specialist Daniel L. Willis and Social Work Supervisor Robbin Grantham, both employed by Onslow County DSS signed off on the investigation summary on Feb. 6, 2014.

In May and August 2016, McDowell filed more complaints to DHHS on alleged deficiencies inside Pearl's Family Care Home No. 4 ranging from inadequate furnishings, lack of meal menus, lack of personal care, residents shown disrespect and indignity from staff and slow mail delivery. In a subsequent investigation summary on June 19, investigators determined only one complaint had merit and found the home negligent in not providing menus for ensuing seven days.

McDowell and her husband had planned to take their son out of the group home on March 17, 2017, a time that would coincide with the elder McDowell's retirement. In February, in the weeks leading up to Anthony's departure, the McDowell's began making trips to Jacksonville to remove items from their son's bedroom.

"I noticed that Anthony (sic) bed issues, because we had started cleaning his room and taking things home getting ready for the move. Anthony's bed was always in disarray and piled full of clothes when I went into his room," McDowell wrote in a follow up complaint letter to DHHS on April 7, 2017.

McDowell's concern regarding the condition of the home in February sparked another investigation by DHHS on March 1, 2017 which addressed issues with smoke detectors not being interconnected with one another and appliances, cabinets and doors in need of repair. Investigators noted the condition of Anthony's bedding by stating: "Observations revealed that the mattress in bedroom #1 was damaged and sagging heavily in the middle. Interview with staff revealed that this resident was moving. Provide new mattress for the bedroom. Provide documentation of the repairs in the form of photos and receipts."

An undated notation written in handwriting next to the entry said "All bedding will be monitored in the future."

On March 2, McDowell drove to Jacksonville to take Anthony out of the Ash Place home once and for all. But before leaving the 59-year-old mother took pictures of her son's bedroom furnished with its sagging and soiled mattress as well capturing images of her son's calloused and cracked feet and chipped toe nails.

McDowell believed her son wasn't getting the personal care for which she was paying and as a result her son was suffering. In the April 7, 2017 letter to DHHS McDowell writes: "Anthony received 10 hours of personal care services a week, 40 hours a month. I have also sent you pictures of his feet that truly show what kind of personal care services he received in the group home. His heels are hard and severely cracked around the heel and his toes have look (sic) as if they have fungus and are red. The nails are jagged from where he tried to cut his on (sic) toe nails," McDowell wrote.

McDowell has brought her son back home and with it all his personal belongings but she wants one last thing from the owners of Pearl's Family Home Care, a place where Anthony spent more than a third of his life. "All I want is an apology from Mr. Berry to Anthony," McDowell said.

The Daily News contacted Berry and asked if he was aware of the concerns raised by the McDowell's regarding the care of their son Anthony and the environment in which he lived while a resident at Pearl's Family Care Home No. 4.

Berry responded that due to "client confidentiality, I cannot comment on that matter." Berry declined comment on whether he would consider apologizing to Anthony McDowell.

The Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Service Regulation has a complaint intake and health care personnel investigations division which encourages anyone with concerns about a family care home to first share those concerns with the administrator or owner of the facility. If those concerns can't be resolved, complaints can be submitted to the Division of Health Service Regulation's Complaint Intake Unit. Complaints may also be filed with the appropriate county department of social services.

"DHSR investigates complaints at all licensed facilities," wrote Cobey Culton press assistant, Office of Communications North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services wrote in an email request for information. Culton said, "county departments of social services are primarily responsible for conducting complaint investigations at adult care homes per GS 131D-2.11(b). The Complaint Intake Section at the state level typically processes complaints for family care homes in an average of two working days of receipt, after which the complaints are referred to the appropriate county DSS for investigation. The DHSR Adult Care Licensure Section may assist the county DSS in investigating complaints."

Culton supplied statistics for fiscal year 2017 which showed the Complaint Intake Unit received 6,037 complaints, of which 143 were related to family care homes. The Complaint Intake Unit received two complaints for Pearl's Family Care Home #4 in FY-17. These totals do not include any complaints that may have gone directly to the county DSS.

You can search for specific facilities on the DHSR website by logging on to www.ncdhhs.gov/dhsr or call 1-800-624-3004. DHHS is located at 1205 Umstead Dr., Lineberger Building, Raleigh, N.C. 27603.

Reporter Mike McHugh can be reached at 910-219-8455 or email mike.mchugh@jdnews.com.

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