Developmental Center Accreditation, Certification, and Background information

Accreditation

Following the May 2000 survey by The Council on Quality and Leadership in Supports for People with Disabilities (The Council), the Developmental Center received a rare three-year accreditation. The state-operated residential center first attained accreditation from The Council (formerly the Accreditation Council on Services for People with Disabilities) in 1989, and has consistently received two-year accreditations until the three-year honor in 2000. The Council's survey system is based upon Outcome Standards. The 2003 Council survey continues accreditation for another two-year period.

Certification

The agency has been certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (previously Health Care Financing Administration/Title XIX) since the early 1980's.

Background and History

The North Dakota Developmental Center dates back to 1903 when the legislature allocated funds for a facility to educate and care for people with mental retardation. In 1904, 12 people from the North Dakota State Hospital were transferred to the new facility in Grafton, N.D.

Originally known as the Institution for the Feeble-Minded, the name was changed in the 1930's to Grafton State School to recognize the training emphasis at the facility. In the early 1960's the San Haven Tuberculosis Sanitarium near Dunseith, N.D., became a satellite facility for people with mental retardation. Like most facilities in the United States for people with developmental disabilities, the Grafton State School reached its peak population in the late 1960s. At that time, about 1,300 people were served per day through the San Haven and Grafton locations. Admissions decreased and population levels began to fall when special educational services became available in school districts starting in the late 1960s.

Inadequate resources made it difficult to maintain buildings and adequately address overcrowding and service concerns. The North Dakota ARC initiated a lawsuit in Federal District Court. In 1982, a United States District Court ruling in the case of the Association for Retarded Citizens of North Dakota, et al., vs. State of North Dakota, resulted in substantial, court-ordered changes to North Dakota's service system for people with developmental disabilities. The San Haven location closed in 1989, and the state has significantly expanded opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to live, to work and to participate in their home communities. The Center earned accreditation from The Council on Quality Services for People with Disabilities in 1989 and has sustained that accreditation. Court review ended in 1995.

In recent years, the Developmental Center's population has ranged from 140 to 160 people with developmental disabilities.

 

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