EACH YEAR DDD IS INTENTIONALLY REJECTING APPROXIMATELY $25,000,000 - $30,000,000 OF FEDERAL FUNDS ($125,000,000 - $150,000,000 for past 5 years)!!

THOUSANDS of NJ residents with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) sit year after year on the NJ Division of Developmental Disabilities' (DDD) waitlist for services, with no immediate hope of getting off.  The reason: budgetary shortfalls.  Yet, DDD is eligible to receive federal reimbursement for one-half of the costs that it incurs it providing residential placements to its residents with I/DD and, inexplicably, has chosen to forego that reimbursement with respect to a very specific class of individuals: NJ residents living in out-of-state residential placements.  Even worse, DDD is currently seeking to terminate its legal right to receive federal reimbursement for those placements altogether, which will force NJ taxpayers to fund (unnecessarily) 100% of DDD's out-of-state placements indefinitely.  That means that EACH YEAR DDD IS INTENTIONALLY REJECTING APPROXIMATELY $25,000,000 - $30,000,000 OF FEDERAL FUNDS to which it is entitled - instead of taking those funds and using them to provide services to those individuals currently languishing on DDD's waitlist.  To be absolutely clear: there is no rational reason for DDD to do this.  PLEASE HELP THOUSANDS OF NJ RESIDENTS WITH I/DD BY SIGNING THIS PETITION and forcing DDD to do the right thing: take federal reimbursement funds to which it is entitled.  NJ taxpayers - but especially its residents with I/DD - will be very grateful for your support on this!