The following report details the findings of the New York State Inspector General in ten investigations of mismanagement of cash accounts maintained by the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) for the benefit of residents living in OPWDD facilities and group homes. A number of these investigations revealed thefts from residents’ cash accounts, which are known as personal allowance accounts, by staff members entrusted with their care, as well as a lack of adequate accounting of and control over residents’ funds. The investigations found that OPWDD fails to safeguard residents’ personal allowance accounts and must therefore strengthen its policies and procedures to ensure residents’ funds are used for proper purposes. The Inspector General found that OPWDD, pursuant to state regulation, conducts annual audits of a percentage of personal allowance accounts. These mandated audits, which are conducted by the Business Office in each regional Developmental Disabilities State Operations Office (DDSOO)1 , are thorough and effective. In fact, many of the investigations discussed in this report were commenced based on findings of Business Office audits that exposed wrongdoing
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