Under a new agreement between the union and the state Department of Developmental Disabilities, five 1199 members from Southbury Training School will follow their residents to a new home in Hamden.  The six residents will continue to live together and be supported by their existing staff, ensuring continuity, familiarity and a continued, necessary role for the Southbury staff members.

The agreement also allows the residents to live a less restrictive community environment, and it has been endorsed by the residents’ family and guardians.

George Skidd, the Behavior Modification Program Specialist assigned to Cottage 22, said that the agreement “is a great opportunity for the men who live at STS to move to the community. They have lived together for many years as a group, and are leaving en masse along with residential staff who have worked with them for up to twenty years. All parties involved have outstanding personal relationships, and they are excited and anxious to begin a new phase of their lives in a community setting.”