Disability Rights Iowa instigated an investigation that ultimately led to Gov. Terry Branstad closing the Iowa Juvenile Home for girl in Toledo, IA -- despite evidence that their earlier concerns had actually improved during the past year. The decision to close IJH is being decided in the courts, but Disability Rights Iowa has now focused in on a new target: the Eldora State Training School:
Jane Hudson, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, says her watchdog group is looking at the education services at Eldora. The Eldora State Training School is for boys between the ages of 12 and 18 who’ve been charged with a crime and sent to the Eldora facility rather than to prison...I have no doubts that they are working towards the closure of the Eldora State Training School.
The State Training School for Boys and the now-closed Iowa Juvenile Home for teenage girls have both been under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Human Services. Governor Terry Branstad says he agrees with Disability Rights Iowa that Eldora’s operation should be scrutinized, but he’s not calling for closure of the facility.
“I think it would be appropriate to look at all of our institutions and are they meeting the needs of the children that are placed there and is there better options or alternatives, so I’m not advocating that we change or close that institution,” Branstad says.