April 10, 2016: Written by Leone McMullen in response to Frame invitation for story based solely on viewer comments.
Dear Ms. Frame,
We are deeply disturbed that King5 continues to air this series, one dreadfully inaccurate segment after another.
Your emphasis on the glories of community placements for EVERYONE with developmental disabilities is for many, a cruel myth.
Our daughter Amika is a case-in-point: In the last 18 years, she has been moved in-and-out of Eight different community living agencies. (Here are a few: Share &Care, Walsh & Assoc., Aacres Alvest, Service Alternatives, CARR, CenterPoint, Stand together).
Most were substandard at best, failed to meet her needs, and only one, (Stand Together), was even partially successful. The rest left her with enormous physical and mental scars, which will never heal. And we never slept.
While DDD struggled to find still-another placement for Amika, she spent time at Fircrest. We noticed how much better she did while living there. The secure campus, in house doctors, psychologist, and plentiful staff gave her the security she so longed-for.
During community placement, Amika was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, arrested, cost the city of Kent $100,000 in first-responder costs,(the agency called police constantly, even for minor problems), lived in dangerous places, constantly eloped, food stolen by staff, etc. etc.
She is now a permanent resident of Fircrest. She is secure, there is no police involvement, no dangerous elopements. We sleep every night.
We do not know why you have such a skewed view of Fircrest and the other RHCs. But we DO know, that for many people, and their families, they are life-saving.
We have watched KING5 literally all of our lives. Always trusted for accurate news coverage. After watching this series, with it's clear bias and inaccuracies, our trust is gone. We will never again view KING5 reporting as accurate.
Please publish this email with other comments on this series.
Leone and Mac McMullen
Sunday, April 10, 2016
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