And They Said It Couldn’t Happen
Rebecca Taylor of Nashville, Tennessee, chuckles when her brother, Robert Anderson (pseudonym) approaches strangers and brightly declares that he has a new house. “It’s a really neat thing to see, especially when the people respond in a friendly way,” Taylor says.

Admittedly, not every 43-year-old man would feel the need to proclaim a new home to the world. But then Robert is not every 43-year-old man.

Born in 1963 with a defective heart, Robert underwent surgery for congenital heart failure at a tender three months of age. According to Taylor, Robert was later diagnosed with mental retardation, “a touch of autism,” and severe mental illness, quite possibly as a result of the trauma.

By the time Robert was 19, his disruptive behavior kept the family in constant turmoil. He was placed in a state-operated developmental center for people with mental retardation. And there he remained for 24 years.

As time went on, Robert proved increasingly unable to relate to others and cope with negative emotions. According to his sister, angry tirades became a daily occurrence. Robert’s family asked the Tennessee Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to move Robert out into the community, where they felt he could experience a better, more normal lifestyle.

Robert would need a home of his own with space for full-time caregivers and a large lot to avoid conflicts with new neighbors. His new service provider knew that housing him in the community would be a tough sell with private landlords, who tend to stigmatize mental retardation.

This time, though, things were about to turn in Robert’s favor. A transition coordinator for the state, working on Robert’s case, learned about Scioto and called the company with high hopes of filling this nearly impossible order.

Within a day, Scioto was e-mailing the family pictures of houses that met Robert’s, the family’s and the service provider’s criteria.

Today Robert lives in an attractive, well kept home nestled on a two-acre lot in an upscale area near Nashville. “We have to hand it to Scioto for getting this property purchased so quickly” says the service provider. “Now he is calmer, without question,” he continues.

Scioto President and CEO Tim Vogel isn’t surprised. “When people are angry and violent it can be because the institutional setting is disagreeing with them. To put people back in the community gives them a semblance of a normal life."

“It feels great to help someone like Robert,” says Vogel. “It’s one of the joys of our business.”