Laura
03-03-2008, 07:51 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/03/02/2008-03-02_family_of_disabled_girl_12_says_shady_no.html?p rint=1&page=all
Family of disabled girl, 12, says shady nonprofit group helped itself, not her
BY HEIDI EVANS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Updated Sunday, March 2nd 2008, 10:15 AM
When Nancy Bruno saw an ad in a local Brooklyn paper for the Evelyn Douglin Center, she thought her prayers for her 10-year-old disabled granddaughter had been answered.
A caseworker from the Sunset Park not-for-profit agency promised to process the elaborate state Medicaid application. Once approved, the center would provide the fifth-grader with a home tutor, physical therapy and social activities to help her become more like her peers.
That was two years ago. The brown-haired, blue-eyed girl who loves Hannah Montana has received nothing - just the runaround from an agency now the focus of a joint investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney and the state attorney general for alleged fraud, waste and mismanagement.
The Daily News has revealed the center's director, Seibert Phillips, used taxpayers' dollars to pay his close pal $250,000 for a no-show job, lied about his credentials and blew hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury cars, flat-screen TVs, business trips and booze.
"Oh, that's why she hasn't been receiving any services, because they have been living it up!" said Bruno of Bensonhurst. "I'd have more respect if they took a gun and went into Cartier. But to rob children? Children? Never!"
Worst of all, when Bruno's son-in-law called the center in September fed up with the delays, he was told her file had been lost.
After spending $1,000 on private doctors' evaluations to submit with her Medicaid application, he was told there was "no record" of her application.
"We were jacked around," said Bob, the girl's father, who asked that his daughter's name not be published.
"They would come to the house and tell us, 'Everything is fine; it just takes a long time to process; you have to wait.'
"Instead of my child and God knows how many other families getting services, they are driving around with their fancy SUVs. They should go to jail for lining their own pockets."
Calls to the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need (SPIN) and its board of directors' lawyer, Jack Kiley, were not returned.
The center - along with a sister agency for children's services - now receives $14 million in government grants to house mentally retarded and disabled adults, provide day habilitation services and run a preschool for 60 children in Brooklyn.
SPIN also gets taxpayer money to help families such as the Brunos navigate the complex world of Medicaid and get support services at home.
Unbeknownst to the public and its hundreds of clients, the center has been in turmoil after a review by the state Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities found SPIN's board of directors - comprised mostly of Phillips' personal friends - had failed to properly oversee his spending and allowed him to run the not-for-profit as if it were his private candy store.
Bruno, 76, has devoted her life to her only grandchild, who lives downstairs with her parents in a two-family house.
Although her granddaughter, now 12, can write and feed herself, her hands are not coordinated enough to do more complicated tasks. Her legs, which were operated on when she was 3, still turn inward.
Bruno winces when she thinks of how much progress the girl could have made in these two years.
"Oh, she has the ability," sighed Bruno. "She's a little old soul inside. She is wise, observant. She could be walking better, not tripping over her feet.
"She could have been riding a bicycle. She would be speaking clearer. She would learn more how to interact with children on a social level. Everything they [the center] offered is what she needed."
Family of disabled girl, 12, says shady nonprofit group helped itself, not her
BY HEIDI EVANS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Updated Sunday, March 2nd 2008, 10:15 AM
When Nancy Bruno saw an ad in a local Brooklyn paper for the Evelyn Douglin Center, she thought her prayers for her 10-year-old disabled granddaughter had been answered.
A caseworker from the Sunset Park not-for-profit agency promised to process the elaborate state Medicaid application. Once approved, the center would provide the fifth-grader with a home tutor, physical therapy and social activities to help her become more like her peers.
That was two years ago. The brown-haired, blue-eyed girl who loves Hannah Montana has received nothing - just the runaround from an agency now the focus of a joint investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney and the state attorney general for alleged fraud, waste and mismanagement.
The Daily News has revealed the center's director, Seibert Phillips, used taxpayers' dollars to pay his close pal $250,000 for a no-show job, lied about his credentials and blew hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury cars, flat-screen TVs, business trips and booze.
"Oh, that's why she hasn't been receiving any services, because they have been living it up!" said Bruno of Bensonhurst. "I'd have more respect if they took a gun and went into Cartier. But to rob children? Children? Never!"
Worst of all, when Bruno's son-in-law called the center in September fed up with the delays, he was told her file had been lost.
After spending $1,000 on private doctors' evaluations to submit with her Medicaid application, he was told there was "no record" of her application.
"We were jacked around," said Bob, the girl's father, who asked that his daughter's name not be published.
"They would come to the house and tell us, 'Everything is fine; it just takes a long time to process; you have to wait.'
"Instead of my child and God knows how many other families getting services, they are driving around with their fancy SUVs. They should go to jail for lining their own pockets."
Calls to the Evelyn Douglin Center for Serving People in Need (SPIN) and its board of directors' lawyer, Jack Kiley, were not returned.
The center - along with a sister agency for children's services - now receives $14 million in government grants to house mentally retarded and disabled adults, provide day habilitation services and run a preschool for 60 children in Brooklyn.
SPIN also gets taxpayer money to help families such as the Brunos navigate the complex world of Medicaid and get support services at home.
Unbeknownst to the public and its hundreds of clients, the center has been in turmoil after a review by the state Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities found SPIN's board of directors - comprised mostly of Phillips' personal friends - had failed to properly oversee his spending and allowed him to run the not-for-profit as if it were his private candy store.
Bruno, 76, has devoted her life to her only grandchild, who lives downstairs with her parents in a two-family house.
Although her granddaughter, now 12, can write and feed herself, her hands are not coordinated enough to do more complicated tasks. Her legs, which were operated on when she was 3, still turn inward.
Bruno winces when she thinks of how much progress the girl could have made in these two years.
"Oh, she has the ability," sighed Bruno. "She's a little old soul inside. She is wise, observant. She could be walking better, not tripping over her feet.
"She could have been riding a bicycle. She would be speaking clearer. She would learn more how to interact with children on a social level. Everything they [the center] offered is what she needed."