Her teeth were “not salvageable,” her body “emaciated,” when 18-year-old Leah — a non-verbal woman with autism — arrived at the hospital from her group home in 2021, medical records found.
Her mother demanded answers from the Special Children’s Center, Leah’s group home in Lakewood, and expected the state, which licensed and paid the home $805 a day, to seek accountability.
But three years since Leah went to the hospital, her group home has faced no consequences. And while state investigators acknowledged “the child was harmed or was placed at risk of harm,” abuse and neglect was “not established” because of “a lack a preponderance of evidence,” according to the investigators report.
