Rosewood relocation: Long-time resident of facility finds home in Manchester with help from The Arc

Carroll County Times
6/16/2009

Mary Francis Smith looks at a magazine in her new apartment in Manchester.

MANCHESTER — After getting home from her day of activities, Mary Francis Smith likes to sit in her room and look out her window onto Md. 30 in Manchester.

She waves and even knocks on the window, shouting out “car” when she sees one passing by.

“She likes to listen to the noise,” said Luke Pearson, a support service aide for The Arc of Carroll County.

Smith, 58, is in her first apartment. On May 18 she moved here from her former home, the Rosewood Center in Owings Mills.

Rosewood was a state-operated facility for residents with developmental disabilities. The facility was founded in 1888 and at its peak, housed more than 3,000 people. In January 2008, Governor Martin O’Malley and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that the facility would be closed by June 2009.

The facility had numerous reports of abuse, neglect and mistreatment in the past, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and it was decided that it would be better to close the facility and place the residents in other locations, including community placements, than to update the campus.

Some of Rosewood’s residents who are deemed forensic patients, meaning those deemed incompetent to stand trial and therefore cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions, have moved into a facility at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville.

Smith, who had been living in Rosewood since she was 9 years old, is developmentally disabled, has seizures and has microcephaly, which is a condition where the circumference of the head is smaller than normal because the brain has not developed properly or has stopped growing, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes.

When Smith’s parents learned she had to move, they were a little concerned.

“I was very upset about it. We didn’t know where we were going to go,” said Margaret Smith, Mary’s mother.

Margaret Smith said that despite the allegations about Rosewood, Mary Francis was always treated well and enjoyed living there.

Smith said a lot of the problems with Rosewood were the buildings, which she said were in a sad state.

Margaret Smith said originally she had hoped the state would just fix up the buildings and the residents could continue to live there, but she said that wasn’t what happened.

So with the help of Mary Francis Smith’s service coordinator, the family found out about The Arc and, after several meetings, the Smith’s decided The Arc would be the organization to take over their daughter’s care.

On May 18, Mary Francis Smith became the second to last resident to leave Rosewood for good.

Becki Pearson, the program coordinator for support services for the ARC, was excited to take Mary from Rosewood and place her in the community

Pearson said that while Mary Francis Smith was happy at Rosewood, most of the activities were done in a group and now there is a chance for her to be an individual and do what she wants to do.

“She didn’t get that one-on-one attention,” Pearson said.

With The Arc as her care provider, the Maryland Disabilities Administration pays for her 24-hour care and the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Human Services have helped the Smiths financially, so they can afford to put Mary in her very own apartment in Manchester.

Pearson said the transition for Mary Francis Smith has been unexpectedly smooth.

Already Mary has been to a carnival, a picnic and the mall.

“She enjoys getting out,” Pearson.

While Mary Francis Smith can’t hold a conversation, Luke Pearson, one of the many aides that assist her at home, and Becki Pearson are learning what her cues are.

Luke Pearson said that she likes to watch TV, though she doesn’t understand it. She likes the noise and colors, and she also likes to listen to country music.

Becki Pearson has learned that Mary Francis Smith will take off her shoes when she is comfortable, but put them back on when she is ready to go somewhere.

Pearson also said that Mary Francis Smith is able to go visit her parents whenever she wants.

“We’ll see her more,” Margaret Smith said. “We love her dearly.”

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