Nearly a decade into its mission, one Iola nonprofit group can proudly say it has made the lives of many and the community they live in a better place.
Since September 2003, area residents with disabilities, such as autism and mental retardation, have learned to do chores and other daily activities like washing clothes and laundry, cooking meals and dressing themselves, thanks to Community Living Opportunities, a nonprofit aimed at helping adults and children with severe developmental disabilities achieve personally satisfying and fulfilling lifestyles.
Alongside living assistance and care taking, CLO provides mentally disabled children and adults assistance with life-skills education using a what it calls a “family teaching model.” Typically, CLO will place three individuals in one home and hire a young couple living nearby to “provide the primary care and support,” said Stephanie Wilson, CLO senior administrator.
“We like that model because we have less staff turnover than if we were shift staffing individual homes,” she said. “The families develop relationships with the individuals and start caring for them as they would their own family.”
Other clients remain with their biological families or live directly in a “foster” family’s home.
“It’s like an adult foster care program,” Wilson said.
Whether housing a client or living nearby, the families aren’t limited to caregiving.
“They’re also teaching and helping (CLO clients) learn new skills and to participate as much as possible in their lives,” Wilson said.
DEANNE DELAPLAIN, 48 AND with CLO since 2007, is proof of the organization’s positive impact on people’s lives, said Debbie Muhl, Delaplain’s sister.
“Before she was with CLO, she was in her home all day long and didn’t get out into the community. CLO makes sure she’s out interacting and making sure she’s not so anti-social. She’s much more outgoing now,” Muhl said of her older sister. “Deanne does more for herself now. She does her own cooking and her own cleaning. She didn’t do a lot of that for herself before.”
Wilson said not only are CLO services beneficial to those utilizing it first hand, but also to their clients’ families or guardians and communities.
Caring for someone with a developmental disability is strenuous, she said. And without some assistance in providing care, the burden can become too much to handle.
“If there is a family in crisis that’s not adequately caring for their child, there are a lot of problems that branch off from that,” Wilson said.
Without CLO’s services in the community, the local schools and hospitals are forced to pick up the slack.
“If the family is not able to adequately support the child, then the school is trying to pick up part of the burden and also maybe having to report the family for inadequate care,” Wilson said. “Really, what the family needs is support and training to be able to care for their child.”
Muhl said her life is less stressful now that CLO is there to help care for her sister.
“Now, I don’t have to do everything. Deanne can do the things she used to rely on me to do for her,” Muhl said.
CLO, FORMED in 1977 by a group of parents in Johnson County whose children have disabilities, was created as an alternative to state institutions.
“Initially, we saw a need for there to be choices for people,” Wilson said. “Because it’s a smaller area there’s not a lot of service providers. It’s for nice people with developmental disabilities to have some options.”
Wilson said Iolan Jodi Kaufman, CLO director for southeast Kansas, was instrumental in bringing CLO to the area.
“I wanted to give something back to the community I was from and to offer something different for the folks in the community that I am proud to be from,” Kaufman said.
And give back she did. CLO’s southeast Kansas region now has 15 clients learning to be more independent through the organization’s services.
More than 400 people statewide benefit from CLO’s services.
