A Critical Examination of State Agency Investigations into ...

have regulations for behavioral management? One of the keystones of OMRDD isbehavioral management. It’s ludicrous.”According to Martinelli, “OMRDD needs to re-focus its efforts on gettingregulations promulgated in this area and this will be a priority in 2008.”OMRDDDirector of Regulatory Affairs Barbara Brundage reported that OMRDD has formed acommittee to discuss the proposed behavior modification regulations and that the agencyis looking to promulgate the regulations that the committee suggests. Brundage said thatOMRDD would likely “welcome” any recommendation to adopt behavior managementregulations. The Inspector General’s Office encourages OMRDD to re-examine thisissue to ensure consistent safety and oversight protections for all consumers statewide.ConclusionIn conclusion, although OMRDD’s response to the incident was prompt and itstechnical assistance to the Anderson School following the incident was extensive, theInspector General identified some areas of weakness in the survey conducted onNovember 3, 9, and 10. In particular, the Statement of Deficiencies resulting from thesurvey failed to note several regulatory violations, and incorrect statements made by theAnderson School in its Plan of Corrective Action were accepted by OMRDD. Also, theauthors of the Statement of Deficiencies failed to coordinate with the Taconic regionaloffice investigator, despite their stated intention to do so. Although OMRDDinappropriately provided misleading and inaccurate information to the Governor Pataki’sOffice in defense of its review, the Inspector General’s investigation did not find that theOMRDD Central Office “purposefully minimized” its findings or attempted to “coverup” any findings of child abuse as alleged by the Careys.153