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Boarding Home Residents Had Other Options

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By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 2, 2007

Photo Gallery: Boarding House Shut Down
9/5/07: DCF Says Caregiver Charged With Abusing 18 Adults Had Good Reputation

Residents' Stories: How To Avoid Their Fate

TAMPA - Disabled by strokes, mental illness or the frailties of old age, residents of the Daphne Jones Boarding Home arrived at their most vulnerable.

Many felt they had no place to go - and no choice but to stay.

Some came from precarious situations: evictions, drug raids, homelessness.

At the time police closed the West Tampa boarding home on Aug. 9 for intolerable conditions, seven of the 19 people living there had been referred to the home by the Department of Children & Families.

Five of those residents initially had been placed at a swanky riverside adult family-care home where Jones lived. Residents said Jones had moved them suddenly last winter to the boarding home. At both places, they and their families said contact and visits were limited.

They didn't protest. They didn't know that under state law they could.

"My sister kept up with me. She didn't like it," said Linda Dill, 60, of the move to the boarding home. "We both thought we didn't have a choice."

Adults can choose where they live, except in court-ordered situations, according to DCF.

"When you're an adult, as long as you have capacity, you can live wherever you want," said Andy Ritter, a DCF spokesman. "If another ALF or nursing home or boarding home makes them a better offer, they can go."

The boarding home's former manager alerted police to conditions there: 19 people were living in a place meant for no more than six people. The air conditioning was broken. The windowless rooms were stifling at a time when the heat index reached 104 degrees.

Officials closed it down. Police arrested Jones, who pleaded not guilty to adult abuse charges and is awaiting trial.

In similar situations, residents and their families don't have to wait for a police raid to help them.

"In order to correct any problem, both the department and the Agency for Health Care Administration need to know one exists," Ritter said. "We urge the public to call the abuse hot line if you believe any person is at risk."

That's not so easy if residents don't have access to a phone - or if there is limited contact and visits from the outside. Family and friends said voice mails left on Jones' phone often went unanswered. They said she required appointments for visits that were difficult - or sometimes impossible - to make.

Jones' attorney, Darryl Rouson, said: "There were some security concerns. She had to be concerned with wandering on the part of the residents and unwelcome visitors. We dispute that there was no access and that people were held" at the boarding home.

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or at kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com.

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