Not Home Screens in Philadelphia
Philadelphia parents and disability rights activists will grapple with the shocking issue of medically fragile children living in institutions instead of at home with the screening of the new documentary Not Home: A documentary about kids living in nursing facilities, Thursday, May 2nd. at 1PM at the Scribe Video Center.
New rules set in place by Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare’s “Fair Share” initiative are designed to cut crucial services that parents feel help keep children with a disability at home and in the community. According to the Age of Autism, parents are now being required by DPW to contribute up to 5% of their gross income for “wraparound” services like behavior therapy, speech, occupational and physical therapies, medications, doctor’s visits and more.
Scribe Video Center is located at 4212 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. The screening is being sponsored by the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disability Services and the Philadelphia Intellectual disability Services.
Seating is limited. Please register by April 26th by calling 215-685-5980 or email annmarie.campbell@phila.gov
Not Home Screens at Abilities Expo LA 
Saturday, March 16th 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Los Angeles Convention Center
West Hall A
1201 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Screening of “Not Home” A Documentary About Kids Living In Nursing Facilities
Presented by Narcel Reedus, Director
Can you imagine how a child feels growing up in a nursing home? Celebrating Christmas, birthdays and other milestones alongside elderly bedridden patients is the mainstay for thousands of children with a developmental disability throughout America. Award-winning filmmaker, Narcel Reedus, reveals the stories of children growing up without a childhood in the heart-felt documentary, “Not Home.” Abilities Expo is pleased to screen a portion of this 99-minute film that examines the complex national phenomenon of children living in nursing homes and state-run institutions. Often times parents of medically-fragile children feel forced to make the decision to institutionalize their child because some states disproportionately allocate funding for brick and mortar institutions rather than the less expensive home and community based living. Time for questions and answers will be available following the session. Learn more at www.nothomedocumentary.com. A limited number of DVD’s will be available for purchase following the screening.
http://www.abilitiesexpo.com/losangeles/index.html
Not Home Documentary Screens UC Berkeley
Narcel Reedus’s documentary “Not at Home” will be shown on Tuesday March 19, 5pm, with a talk by the filmmaker, at UC Berkeley, 300 Wheeler Hall (Media Room).
The documentary follows four people, two young people and two parents, exploring how parents of medically-fragile children (especially but not exclusively in poor families, many of them families of color) feel forced to make the decision to institutionalize their child because some states disproportionately allocate funding for brick and mortar institutions rather than the less expensive home and community based living. Sponsored by UCB’s Disability Studies Research Cluster, Diversity and Health Disparities Research Cluster, and Dean Christopher Edley, Berkeley Law School. Wheelchair accessible. For disability accommodation, contact sschweik@berkeley.edu
Not Home Documentary Screens in San Jose
Silicon Valley Independent Living Center
2202 N. First St, San Jose, CA 95131
Monday, March 18, 2013
Doors Open at 6:30 PM
Film Screening at 7:00 PM
Panel Discussion at 8:30 PM
Program Ends at 9:00 PM
Norfolk/Virginia Beach
By Elizabeth Simpson The Virginian-Pilot ©
A 10-year-old Norfolk boy who spent his first six years in a hospital and a nursing facility is receiving national attention in a new documentary about children living in institutions.
Qualeigh Mullen-Williams is one of four people featured in the 90-minute film “Not Home.”
Independent filmmaker Narcel Reedus will speak at a free showing of the movie at 6 p.m. today at the Endependence Center in Norfolk. The film is also being presented earlier in the day at The Arc of Virginia’s state convention in Virginia Beach.
Reedus started filming “Not Home” at an Atlanta rally organized by an association for disability rights in 2009. The mental health advocate has traveled to seven states since then and conducted 80 interviews to bring attention to the phenomenon of children growing up in institutions and nursing homes.
He discovered Qualeigh through Maureen Hollowell, director of advocacy and services at the Endependence Center, an organization that advocates for people with disabilities.
Qualeigh was born in Chesapeake with cerebral palsy to a teen mother who was unable to care for him.
He was transferred to Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk and spent eight months there before being transferred to Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in the same city.
Michelle Martins met him through her work with an educational program that teaches children at Lake Taylor and other institutions. She quit her job because it was interfering with her relationship with Qualeigh.
Martins and her husband, Jose, gained legal custody of the boy in 2008 and also received a Medicaid waiver, a type of funding that helps them care for Qualeigh in their Norfolk home.
The couple have two sons, who are 10 and 14.
Reedus, who lives in Charlotte, said he was touched by the family’s story and thought it provided an element of hope for his film.
The first screening was in Chicago in June, and Reedus plans to show the film and hold panel discussions across the country at community centers, theaters, schools and conventions during the next year.
Reedus, 49, began making disability-rights films in 1996 when he was commissioned by the Institute on Human Development and Disability at the University of Georgia to make a short documentary about Waddie Welcome, a man with cerebral palsy who had to move to a nursing home after outliving his family members.
Welcome eventually was reunited with a childhood friend and returned to the community where he was born and raised.
“Not Home” is a longer film that Reedus hopes will educate people on the difficulties families face when caring for children with developmental disabilities.
“People can see and hear what other people are doing across the country,” he said.
“I want people to understand that children are being placed in nursing facilities. But it’s about more than that. It’s also about the hope and caring people have put forth to make a child’s life a child’s life. I want people to come away with hope.”
Martins, who is 48, said she and her family are excited about the screening. Although they were featured in the film, they haven’t seen it in its entirety yet.
“We’ll be there with our bells on,” she said.
Elizabeth Simpson, 757-446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com
Chicago
Charlotte, NC – June 1, 2012 – The “Not Home” documentary filmed by award-winning independent filmmaker Narcel Reedus, will screen in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, June 30 at DePaul University’s Student Center. This event is free and open to the public.
The 90-minute documentary 
chronicles the complex national phenomenon of children with developmental disabilities living in nursing facilities and state run institutions. This masterfully crafted documentary includes poignant interviews from parents, advocates, activists and elected officials and also provides a condensed history of institutionalization in the U.S. The footage for the documentary extends over many states as it reveals a common correlation between the families.
