Letter.

Private non-profit agencies at a funding crossroads

To the editor:

We are the directors of private agencies in Fairfield County who serve people with mental retardation and their' families. Connecticut has long been a pioneer in the support and services it offers to persons with mental retardation. We have moved thousands of clients from large institutions, into group homes and individual apartments. With community-based support services, an incredible number of these clients have become productive tax-paying members of the community.

The key to our success has been a public/private partnership in the delivery of services to the mentally retarded and to their families. While the state directly serves over 700 clients in its group homes, Connecticut's not for-profit providers serve more than three times that number-- at slightly more than half the cost per client than those served by the state, according to reports published by the state itself Most important, there's no difference in the types of clients served or the quality of the programs offered.

But, as the costs of servicing clients grows, fueled by higher salaries, rising health care costs and escalating prices for fuel, Connecticut's model network of public and private service' delivery is fast approaching a, crisis point. Yet, it won't be the public providers who will break, at least not at …