By AP/KCUR/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Gov. Matt Blunt says Missouri will start informing people who live in group homes for the mentally disabled whether sex offenders also live there.
That comes after the Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri puts developmentally disabled sex offenders into privately run group homes with other mentally retarded residents.
The state previously had not notified other residents' families about the placements, citing the offenders' right to privacy. But Blunt said Tuesday that would change, noting the policy should be re-evaluated. "It is a problem," the governor said.
Bob Bax, a spokesman for the state's Mental Health Department, the state will inform families so they can decide if they want their loved one to live in a community with a sex offender.
"We need to really evaluate whether the policy [of putting registered sex offenders in homes with non-sex offenders] is in the best interests of all of our clients," Blunt said during a Capitol news conference. The state's mental health department has said it places offenders in group homes only when the staff has determined "it is safe and clinically appropriate."
As of July, 30 convicted sex offenders and people accused of sex offenses were living in privately run residential homes for mentally retarded residents, while 20 more were living in state habilitation centers for the mentally retarded, the department said.
The offenders come from jails, prisons and other state facilities and all have some level of mental retardation or developmental disability.
Also Tuesday, Blunt signed an executive order making more permanent some changes the department already has made to ensure the safety of mental health patients and that abuse allegations are properly handled.
The order follows recommendations by a task force Blunt appointed this summer to study care at mental health facilities. Among the policies cemented with the order are requiring the Department of Mental Health to inform the Missouri State Highway Patrol and local law enforcement of deaths or assaults in state- or privately run facilities and requiring all deaths to be reported to a coroner or medical examiner.
The order also calls on the department to implement a system to quickly track abuse information at facilities and to provide training to family members to help identify and report potential abuse or neglect.
Blunt still is considering other recommendations from the task force, including providing more money for staffing and making parts of abuse investigation reports public.