CLOP: Community Living Ombudsman Program
CLOP provides free services to persons residing in facilities for individuals with developmental disabilities.
The Program
The Community Living Ombudsman Program (CLOP) is a Louisiana network of trained advocates who visit persons with developmental disabilities living in group or community homes to:
- listen to their concerns
- respond to their needs
- help them enhance their quality of life
- assist them in the exercising of their rights
Certified ombudsmen make regular visits to residents and are prepared to assist them and their families by:
- Resolving differences and misunderstandings
- Providing referral information about community resources
- Identifying instances of abuse or neglect
- Familiarizing them with their legal rights
- Training staff about the needs and rights of residents
- Initiating formal complaints when necessary
- Suggesting measures to enhance quality of life in the group home
The Need
. . .Developmental disabilities are severe and chronic conditions that occur at birth or during childhood and are expected to continue throughout life.
In Louisiana, over 4,400 people with developmental disabilities live in small group or community homes, which are state licensed, but privately operated. Most homes have six to eight residents.
In 1993 the Louisiana Legislature authorized the CLOP program (R.S. 28:395-399, Act 835 of 1993) …”to safeguard the well-being, enhance the quality of life, and protect the rights of persons with developmental disabilities living in group and community homes.”
After a pilot project in Baton Rouge, CLOP expanded to the entire state of Louisiana.
The Law
State law provides that individuals with developmental disabilities have the same rights as all other citizens, specifically to:
- live in the least restrictive living option appropriate to their needs and abilities
- participate in the least restrictive services
- have service plans
- have periodic diagnosis and evaluation reviews.
- receive appropriate services
- maximize their capabilities and enhance their abilities to cope with the environment
- withdraw from services to which they have been voluntarily admitted
- participate in planning for their own services
- be informed of their rights
- receive an education, if they are of school age
Residents and family members are not always aware of these rights, nor are all staff persons of group and community homes.
Call: 1-800-960-7705
Email: info@disabilityrightsla.org
CLOP is authorized by the LA Legislature and funded through the state Office of the Attorney General.
