Dozens of families packed into an AltaPointe Health office in Fairhope this week hoping to learn why a Baldwin County nonprofit that served more than 150 disabled residents was shut down — and left with most of their questions unanswered.
The meeting was hosted by the Alabama Department of Mental Health following the decertification and closure of ARC of Baldwin County, the nonprofit that provided day services and housing to developmentally disabled residents across the county. As of the meeting, ARC Baldwin was fully shut down, state officials told attendees. The organization was decertified on July 1 and ordered to relocate all residents who stayed in its homes through a Medicaid waiver program.
Why the state shut it down
In a decertification letter sent to ARC Baldwin Executive Director Kathy Fleet on July 1, ADMH Commissioner Kimberly Boswell said the state found severe issues at the nonprofit’s facilities, some of which led to critical incidents and death. State officials said ARC Baldwin had been operating on a provisional certification because of past incidents, and that a for-cause review conducted from January through early March 2026 found severe problems with record keeping and integrity, supervision of residents, and supervision, training and medical care compliance failures.
Despite the severity of those findings, the state has declined to discuss most of the details. When families asked why residents were moved and programs were canceled without any prior notice to relatives, ADMH Associate Commissioner Camille Cumuze said she could not answer because of a pending administrative hearing.
I understand that that’s frustrating, Cumuze told the room, but we have to make sure that we follow our legal rules. We have to make sure that we honor ARC of Baldwin County’s rights as we move into the appeal process.
Families got no warning
Since news of the decertification broke, family members have described learning about the closure only after their loved ones were already being moved. Melissa Jemison, whose brother Steven previously lived in an ARC Baldwin home and attended its day center, said she learned he was scheduled to be moved before she knew anything about the closure.
I feel like if it was serious enough to close it with no notice, as family and as his legal guardian, I should have been informed long ago of these concerns, Jemison said. She called the meeting itself useless for her brother’s situation.
Ruth Reed, a parent whose family member attended ARC Baldwin’s day programs, pressed Cumuze on the same question. The associate commissioner conceded the point as far as the state could: while ADMH did the right thing in moving residents and shutting the nonprofit down, she said, the notification should have been sooner.
The appeal moves slowly
ARC Baldwin has appealed the decertification. As of the meeting, the administrative hearing had not yet been scheduled, but a hearing officer had been selected, according to ADMH attorney Christine Monaco. Officials initially indicated the hearing would be open to the public; an agency spokesperson later said legal counsel determined it will in fact be closed.
Fleet has declined to speak publicly about the decertification and closure. The hearing process will determine whether the state’s decision stands, but the nonprofit’s programs remain shut down in the meantime.
Who takes the residents
The meeting was intended in part to introduce families to the providers stepping into the gap. State officials named roughly a dozen organizations that can provide in-home care or day programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including companies already certified in Baldwin County such as Fairhope Residential and Scott Residential, along with new providers being brought into the area.
Even some of the agencies responsible for connecting families with Medicaid-covered care were caught off guard. Dawn Lindsey, executive director of the Cindy Haber Center, the organization that helps families access Medicaid-covered care, told attendees the whole situation was news to her organization as well. She and board president Clara Myers said they were not informed of the decertification until after July 1. Since then, the center has received more than 150 calls from families of people previously served by ARC Baldwin.
So many of them have been with the same caregivers for so long, Myers said. And then boom, with no notice, they’re just immediately being moved, creating havoc for the client and their family.
Advocates want accountability
Fairhope community advocate Rebecca Watson said she left disappointed that more answers weren’t offered about the decertification or the failure to notify families in advance. If the residents were truly in danger, she asked, why weren’t any of the family members notified?
The question hangs over the entire episode: if conditions were bad enough to justify an immediate shutdown, the people with the most at stake — the guardians and parents of the residents — say they deserved to know what was happening while it was happening, not after.
For now, families are navigating a patchwork of new providers, uncertain timelines and an appeal process that will play out behind closed doors. State officials say their greatest concern is for the individuals the state serves, and that they have done what they believe is in the best interest of residents’ health and welfare. The families in that Fairhope meeting room made clear that they will be watching to see whether the state’s actions — and its silence — match that standard.