Who We Are
Providing stable, quality housing for people who have developmental disabilities
Black Mountain Assisted Family Living (BMAFL) was founded by parents of children with developmental disabilities and other conditions. The Board of Directors consists of community members as well as parents and siblings of adults with developmental disabilities. The board’s mission is to provide permanent, stable housing to ensure that the people living with developmental disabilities who reside in a BMAFL home are as happy, active and as productive as they can be.
The residents with developmental disabilities live with Shared Living Providers (SLP) who rent the housing from BMAFL for as long as they are willing and able to provide the needed care. The Shared Living Providers are screened and supervised by the local agencies serving people with developmental disabilities. The SLPs are critical to the quality of life in the BMAFL houses and they ensure that the residents are participating members of the community.
In the event that a shared living provider is no longer willing and/or able to provide the needed care for a resident, the providers leave. With the consent of the guardian new Shared Living Providers move in to support the resident in their permanent BMAFL home.
Some History
BMAFL was formed in 1998 by Joan Scherer, Mary Gyori, and Connie Woodberry, mothers of three young men who could not live independently. These three young men all had developmental disabilities as well as a variety of challenges including tuberous sclerosis, seizures, cerebral palsy, autism, deaf-blindness, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder. At the time all three young men were teenagers living outside Vermont in schools which could meet their needs.
In 1993, Vermont closed the institute which housed people with developmental disabilities. The state then adopted a foster care “developmental home” model to house and support adults with developmental disabilities. This means that people in Vermont who are unable to live independently, or with their parents, reside in developmental homes, usually owned by a Shared Living Provider. When a shared living provider is no longer able or willing to continue, the person with developmental disabilities must move to another developmental home.
Joan, Mary, and Connie knew that transitions were extremely difficult for their sons and the process of moving from one developmental home to another, and then another, would be very stressful, disruptive and destabilizing for their sons. The mothers felt that a permanent, stable home was essential to their children’s well-being and long term success in the community.
In 1998, the three sets of parents formed the non-profit corporation, Black Mountain Assisted Family Living, and took their concerns to Montpelier, the Vermont state capital. In Montpelier, they received outstanding assistance from a number of key individuals. These included the Governor’s Chief of Staff Julie Peterson, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, the Secretary of the Agency of Education Mark Hull, Commissioner of the Agency of Human Services Con Hogan, and the Executive Director of Upper Valley Services Bill Ashe. They listened to the parents’ concerns and coordinated efforts to bring the three young men back home to Vermont.
The three young men returned to Vermont from their out-of-state educational placements and were settled with their shared living providers into their two new Black Mountain Assisted Family Living homes on Upper Dummerston Road in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Since 1999, these two BMAFL homes have been renovated so that there are now four attractive, comfortable spaces to provide permanent housing for five people with developmental disabilities and their shared living providers.
