OPINION

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

O

ften the rap against
journalists is that
they show up when
the story is hot, report it in
often glowing, sometimes
emotional terms, then dis-
appear.
How many of us have read
tear-jerking stories about
the homeless around
Thanksgiving time, and
then that's it for the year?
It's almost as if people are
only homeless once a year,
when the rest of us are in the
holiday spirit to give. The
truth is the plight of the
homeless and hungry
worsens come July and
August when landlords are
more apt to follow through
on evictions. Hot weather
also brings out the worst in
domestic violence cases,
often forcing single mothers
out onto the streets with
their children.
Follow-up is the bread and
butter of any journalist.
Many issues that we report
on don't just happen and
fade out. Some issues, such
as news about Sinai Hospital
or Federation, are ongoing.
Others, however, need to be
checked from time to time.
This is the case with an
issue I reported on last

November. It talked about
the developmentally disabl-
ed and what happens to
them after the age of 26.
This is the time when the
state is no longer required to
educate a developmentally
disabled person.
After age 26, go find a pro-
gram. Hundreds of people
are waiting on waiting lists
for years with little or no
movement. They seek day-
time programs for their
adult children. And while
many can do nothing more
than plop them in front of a
television set, these parents
are aging to the point to
where they can't take care of
their "children."
The other cruel irony
comes in the form of funding.
If a family institutionalizes
or finds a group home or
sheltered workshop for their
child at an earlier age, the
chances of daytime adult
placement are better. If a
family decides, instead, to
keep their child home, nur-
ture the child there and send
them during the day to
school, they will have a
much more difficult time
finding a placement.
Chances are they'll have to
foot the bill for that child if
any placement is found.
Ellen Stern was one of the
young ladies written about
last November who finds
herself in this situation. The

story appeared months
before her final day at the
Wing Lake School in Bloom-
field Township. Ellen, 26, is
now out of school.
Her parents, Bob and
Fran, chose to take care of
their daughter at home all of
her life. Institutionalizing
her was never a considera-
tion. They loved the Wing
Lake School and dreaded the
day Ellen would, because of
age, have to "graduate."
And now that she has
graduated, she's not allowed
back. It's not the school's
fault, it's the law.
Ellen, who was thriving at
the school, sits home bored
in her wheelchair,
sometimes making
whimpering noises to her
mom. But they know what
she's trying to say.

The Sterns went to the
organized Jewish commun-
ity. But there was nothing
there that was set up to take
care of people like their
dau. ghter. And they
wondered why. The Jewish
Vocational Services offered
the personal attention that
Ellen would need, only it
would cost some $56,000 a
year to provide the services.
That's out of the question
even for Mr. Stern, a suc-
cessful builder, who lives in
a beautiful part of West
Bloomfield.

Palestinian Factions
Condemn Ethiopian Rescue

Israel's historic rescue of
over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews,
warmly praised by the United
States and other nations
worldwide, has been harshly
and shockingly denounced by
Syria, the PLO, and other
Palestinian factions.
Syria's state-run ruling par-
ty newspaper, al-Baath, lam-
basted the operation as part
of "a large international plot
against all the Arabs!'
The PLO has said, "We
stand against (the Ethiopian
rescue) and we regret the
facilities given by the U.S. to
Ethiopian Jewish immigrants
to move to Israel" (PLO
political chief Farouk Kad-
doumi, quoted by Reuters,
5-29-91).
"The PFLP said the trans-
fer of Ethiopian citizens of
Jewish persuasion to occupied
Palestine is being carried out
at the expense of Palestinian
citizens and is further corn-

plicating chances for peace in
the Middle East. The Front
criticized Arab silence over
the new waves of emigration
to Israel." (Paris Radio Monte
Carlo in Arabic, 5-26-91;
quoted in FBIS, 5-29).

According to the Palestine
National Salvation Front
(PNSF), "The Zionist entity
has brought thousands of
Falasha Jews into occupied
Palestine at a time when it is
continuing to deport Palesti-
nian citizens. These Zionist
measures once again prove
that the Zionist enemy insists
on its occupation of the Arab
territories. They also under-
score this enemy's expan-
sionist ambitions!'

pian immigration "with
tremendous alarm" as part of
"a whole demographic
change." She said she also
finds it "extremely alarming"
that Israel reacts to all world
events "only so far as it
touches the Jewish communi-
ty" (Jerusalem Post, 5-26-91).
It should be noted that after
the Jordanian Red Crescent
refused to accept an Israeli
donation of food, water and
medicine for war-ravaged Ira-
qi civilians, an American Jew
succeeded in getting nearly
five tons of baby formula, in-
travenous fluid and bottled
water donated by Israelis to
Basra (Jerusalem Post,
1-23-91; 5-28-91). ❑

Hanan Ashrawi, one of the
three West Bank Palestinians
who have met regularly with
Secretary of State Baker, said
to the Jerusalem Post the
Palestinians view the Ethio-

This information was
contributed by the American-
Israel Public Affairs
Committee.

Photo by Glen n Triest

The Issues Don't Disappear
When We Tian The Page

Ellen Stern at Wing Lake.

But Mr. Stern wonders out
loud why the Jewish com-
munity, a community that
raised over $40 million last
year for Federation and for
Operation Exodus, can't
come up with supplemental
funds for Jews in his
daughter's situation.
The Sterns have been to
Oakland County, they've
been to Lansing and they've
been to Federation. Recent-
ly, they've been able to find
a program for Ellen that
would cost some $14,000 a
year. It's unclear yet if
they'll be paying for this
alone or with some state aid.
No matter what the pay-
ment arrangement, it's go-
ing to be difficult for the
Sterns to look the organized
Jewish community straight
in the eye. Too much money,
they feel, never reaches the
people in this community.
In November of 1990, the
Federation introduced a
report by the Task Force on
Services for Persons With
Disabilities. A line from the
report probably best in-
dicates where the Federa-
tion is headed with this sen-
sitive issue.
"Implementation of the
recommendations in this
report will require the par-
ticipation of community
leadership from Federation,
synagogues, educational in-
stitutions, agencies and
organizations. Furthermore,
great sensitivity will be re-
quired in order to avoid the
tendency to evaluate others
on the basis of prejudices
and generalities."
Carol Kaczander, the di-
rector of the Jewish Infor-
mation Service, knows all
about this task force, and

,

she knows much of what the
Sterns are going through.
Her 12-year-old developmen-
tally disabled son has been
on a JARC (Jewish Associ-
ation for Residential Care
for Persons with Develop-
mental Disabilities) waiting
list since he was 3. She
knows the Sterns and she
knows Ellen. Her son is also
a student at Wing Lake.
What she wants the Sterns
and others in their situation
to understand is that the
Federation is aware and
wants to help. Its task force
was a recent big first step.
But setting up appropriate
programs and raising ap-
propriate funds takes time.
For the Sterns, this might
not be enough.
But the flip side to all of
this is that when the Sterns
advocate .for Ellen, they are
also helping others. There
are Federation task forces
because of people like the
Sterns. A young lady in
Maryland has a rare
leukemia that moved her
family to start a network of
bone marrow donors all over
the world. The network has
not directly helped her, but
has helped others.
Ellen's parents might not
understand it, but the kind
of dogged advocacy they
think they are doing now
just for their daughter is go-
ing to show up somehow
months or years from now
helping many, many others.
Ms. Kaczander said that
for organizations such as the
Federation this is just the
start. And while the start
doesn't come nearly in time
for the Sterns, they are the
ones making the "start"
happen. ❑

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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